Athletics at the Olympic Games
Athletics
Athletics has been on the programme of every Summer Olympic Games since Athens 1896, with twelve men's events that year; women's events began at Amsterdam 1928.
- Next
- Los Angeles 2028. A mixed 4 × 100 m relay is added
- Most golds (nation)
- United States, 359
- Most golds (athlete)
- Paavo Nurmi (Finland) and Carl Lewis (United States), 9 each
- India
- 4 medals: Norman Pritchard's two silvers (1900); Neeraj Chopra's gold (Tokyo 2020) and silver (Paris 2024) in the javelin
- Cycle
- Every four years
India at the Olympic Games
India on the podium
Medals
| Games | Event | Athlete | Medal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paris 1900 | 200 m | Norman Pritchard | Silver |
| Paris 1900 | 200 m hurdles | Norman Pritchard | Silver |
| Tokyo 2020 (held 2021) | Javelin throw | Neeraj Chopra | Gold |
| Paris 2024 | Javelin throw | Neeraj Chopra | Silver |
Finishes in the top eight without a medal
Tokyo 20201 event
Event Athlete Place Discus throw (women) Kamalpreet Kaur 6th London 20121 event
Event Athlete Place Discus throw (women) Krishna Poonia 6th London 20121 event
Event Athlete Place Discus throw (men) Vikas Gowda 8th Athens 20041 event
Event Athlete Place Long jump (women) Anju Bobby George 5th Athens 20041 event
Event Athlete Place 4 × 400 m relay (women) India 7th Los Angeles 19841 event
Event Athlete Place 4 × 400 m relay (women) India 7th Los Angeles 19841 event
Event Athlete Place 400 m hurdles (women) P. T. Usha 4th Montreal 19761 event
Event Athlete Place 800 m Sri Ram Singh 7th Tokyo 19641 event
Event Athlete Place 110 m hurdles Gurbachan Singh Randhawa 5th Rome 19601 event
Event Athlete Place 50 km race walk Zora Singh 8th Rome 19601 event
Event Athlete Place 400 m Milkha Singh 4th
More about this tournament
Paris 2024 champions
The holders of each event until Los Angeles 2028.
| Event group | Event | Champion | Nation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men | 100 m | Noah Lyles | United States |
| Men | 200 m | Letsile Tebogo | Botswana |
| Men | 400 m | Quincy Hall | United States |
| Men | 800 m | Emmanuel Wanyonyi | Kenya |
| Men | 1500 m | Cole Hocker | United States |
| Men | 5000 m | Jakob Ingebrigtsen | Norway |
| Men | 10,000 m | Joshua Cheptegei | Uganda |
| Men | Marathon | Tamirat Tola | Ethiopia |
| Men | 110 m hurdles | Grant Holloway | United States |
| Men | 400 m hurdles | Rai Benjamin | United States |
| Men | 3000 m steeplechase | Soufiane El Bakkali | Morocco |
| Men | 4 × 100 m relay | Canada | Canada |
| Men | 4 × 400 m relay | United States | United States |
| Men | High jump | Hamish Kerr | New Zealand |
| Men | Pole vault | Armand Duplantis | Sweden |
| Men | Long jump | Miltiadis Tentoglou | Greece |
| Men | Triple jump | Jordan Díaz | Spain |
| Men | Shot put | Ryan Crouser | United States |
| Men | Discus throw | Roje Stona | Jamaica |
| Men | Hammer throw | Ethan Katzberg | Canada |
| Men | Javelin throw | Arshad Nadeem | Pakistan |
| Men | Decathlon | Markus Rooth | Norway |
| Men | 20 km race walk | Brian Pintado | Ecuador |
| Women | 100 m | Julien Alfred | Saint Lucia |
| Women | 200 m | Gabby Thomas | United States |
| Women | 400 m | Marileidy Paulino | Dominican Republic |
| Women | 800 m | Keely Hodgkinson | Great Britain |
| Women | 1500 m | Faith Kipyegon | Kenya |
| Women | 5000 m | Beatrice Chebet | Kenya |
| Women | 10,000 m | Beatrice Chebet | Kenya |
| Women | Marathon | Sifan Hassan | Netherlands |
| Women | 100 m hurdles | Masai Russell | United States |
| Women | 400 m hurdles | Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone | United States |
| Women | 3000 m steeplechase | Winfred Yavi | Bahrain |
| Women | 4 × 100 m relay | United States | United States |
| Women | 4 × 400 m relay | United States | United States |
| Women | High jump | Yaroslava Mahuchikh | Ukraine |
| Women | Pole vault | Nina Kennedy | Australia |
| Women | Long jump | Tara Davis-Woodhall | United States |
| Women | Triple jump | Thea LaFond | Dominica |
| Women | Shot put | Yemisi Ogunleye | Germany |
| Women | Discus throw | Valarie Allman | United States |
| Women | Hammer throw | Camryn Rogers | Canada |
| Women | Javelin throw | Haruka Kitaguchi | Japan |
| Women | Heptathlon | Nafissatou Thiam | Belgium |
| Women | 20 km race walk | Yang Jiayu | China |
| Mixed | 4 × 400 m relay | Netherlands | Netherlands |
| Mixed | Marathon race walk relay | Spain | Spain |
Medal tables
Nations are as they competed (the Soviet Union, East and West Germany and the United Team of Germany are counted apart from Germany and Russia).
All Games, 1896 to 2024 (top 15 of 107 nations)
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 359 | 281 | 225 | 865 |
| 2 | Soviet Union | 64 | 55 | 74 | 193 |
| 3 | Great Britain | 56 | 87 | 77 | 220 |
| 4 | Finland | 48 | 36 | 30 | 114 |
| 5 | Kenya | 38 | 44 | 35 | 117 |
| 6 | East Germany | 38 | 36 | 35 | 109 |
| 7 | Poland | 29 | 20 | 18 | 67 |
| 8 | Jamaica | 27 | 39 | 27 | 93 |
| 9 | Italy | 24 | 16 | 28 | 68 |
| 10 | Ethiopia | 24 | 16 | 22 | 62 |
| 11 | Australia | 22 | 29 | 32 | 83 |
| 12 | Sweden | 21 | 23 | 41 | 85 |
| 13 | Germany | 20 | 30 | 37 | 87 |
| 14 | Canada | 18 | 19 | 32 | 69 |
| 15 | Russia | 18 | 19 | 19 | 56 |
India: 1 gold, 3 silver, 0 bronze (4 medals).
Paris 2024 (top 10 of 43 nations with a medal)
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 14 | 11 | 9 | 34 |
| 2 | Kenya | 4 | 2 | 5 | 11 |
| 3 | Canada | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 4 | Netherlands | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 5 | Spain | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 6 | Norway | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 7 | Great Britain | 1 | 4 | 5 | 10 |
| 8 | Jamaica | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| 9 | Ethiopia | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| 10 | Australia | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 |
India: 1 silver (Neeraj Chopra, javelin).
Events by Games
| Games | Events | Games | Events | Games | Events |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1896 | 12 | 1932 | 29 | 1976 | 37 |
| 1900 | 23 | 1936 | 29 | 1980 | 38 |
| 1904 | 24 | 1948 | 33 | 1984 | 41 |
| 1908 | 26 | 1952 | 33 | 1988 | 42 |
| 1912 | 30 | 1956 | 33 | 1992 | 43 |
| 1920 | 29 | 1960 | 34 | 1996 | 44 |
| 1924 | 27 | 1964 | 36 | 2000 to 2004 | 46 |
| 1928 | 27 | 1968 | 36 | 2008 to 2016 | 47 |
| 1972 | 38 | 2020 to 2024 | 48 |
Events added and dropped
- Women's events from 1928 (100 m, 800 m, 4 × 100 m relay, high jump, discus).
- Mixed events: the 4 × 400 m relay from Tokyo 2020 and the marathon race walk relay at Paris 2024; a mixed 4 × 100 m relay is on the Los Angeles 2028 programme.
- Race walking: the men's 50 km ended after Tokyo 2020.
- Early events
History
How it began
Athletics was part of the first modern Games in 1896, with twelve men's events. The early Games added and dropped events freely; 1900 and 1904 had standing jumps, team races and steeplechases of several lengths.
Women and the modern programme
Women first competed in 1928, in five events. The programme grew to 48 events by 2020 with the mixed 4 × 400 m relay.
Champions by era
The United States lead the all-time table with 359 golds, more than five times the next nation, the Soviet Union (64). Finland (48, nine of them Paavo Nurmi's) and East Germany (38) follow; of today's nations, Kenya (38), Jamaica (27) and Ethiopia (24) are the leaders after the United States and Great Britain.
India's story
India's first Olympic medals in athletics were Norman Pritchard's two silvers in 1900. For more than a century after, the best Indian results were fourth places, Milkha Singh in 1960 and P. T. Usha in 1984. Neeraj Chopra's javelin gold at Tokyo 2020 was India's first in athletics, and his silver at Paris 2024 made him the first Indian with two Olympic athletics medals since Pritchard.
Firsts and facts
- Most golds: Paavo Nurmi (9 gold, 3 silver) and Carl Lewis (9 gold, 1 silver).
- Usain Bolt (Jamaica): 8 golds from 2008 to 2016.
- Allyson Felix (United States): 11 medals, the most by a woman in Olympic athletics; next is Merlene Ottey (Jamaica), 9.
- India's only athletics gold: Neeraj Chopra, javelin, Tokyo 2020.