athletics

Collectively, all the sports, exercises, and contests that utilize and promote such physical skills as speed, agility, and stamina.

Among the Greeks, vase paintings show that competitive athletics were established by at least 1600 BC (see Olympic Games). Ancient athletes were well paid and sponsored; Aristotle paid the expenses of a boxer contestant at Olympia, and chariot races were sponsored by the Greek city states. Athletics have recently become dominated by the desire to set world records. This has led to the use of computer selection for the best potential competitors and the analysis of motion for the greatest speed, distance, and so forth; the specialization of equipment for maximum performance (for example, fiberglass vaulting poles, foam landing pads, aerodynamically designed javelins, composition running tracks); and the unlawful use of drugs such as anabolic steroids and growth hormones.