Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics were held during the last 10 days of the games, from 12 to 21 August 2016, at the Olympic Stadium. The sport of athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics was made into three distinct sets of events: track and field events, road running events, and racewalking events.
Competition schedule Track and field events were held at João Havelange Olympic Stadium, while the race walks and marathon start and finish in Pontal Beach in the Recreio dos Bandeirantes neighbourhood and the Sambadrome Marquês de Sapucaí, respectively. Apart from the race walks and marathon, ten track and field events held finals in the morning sessions for the first time since 1988. This change was implemented upon the request of the Rio 2016 Organizing Committee (COJOP Rio 2016) and the Olympic Broadcasting Services to be supported by the International Olympic Committee, ensuring that at least one final was broadcast live for each of the world's 24 time zones.
In the tables below, M stands for morning and A for afternoon.
+Ref Men's Date Aug 12 Aug 13 Aug 14 Aug 15 Aug 16 Aug 17 Aug 18 Aug 19 Aug 20 Aug 21Event M A M A M A M A M A M A M A M A M A M A 100 m Q H ½ F 200 m H ½ F 400 m H ½ F 800 m H ½ F 1500 m H ½ F 5000 m H F 10,000 m F 110 m hurdles H ½ F 400 m hurdles H ½ F 3000 m steeplechase H F 4 × 100 m relay H F 4 × 400 m relay H F Marathon F 20 km walk F 50 km walk F Long jump Q F Triple jump Q F High jump Q F Pole vault Q F Shot put Q F Discus throw Q F Javelin throw Q F Hammer throw Q F Decathlon F Women's Date Aug 12 Aug 13 Aug 14 Aug 15 Aug 16 Aug 17 Aug 18 Aug 19 Aug 20 Aug 21Event M A M A M A M A M A M A M A M A M A M A 100 m Q H ½ F 200 m H ½ F 400 m H ½ F 800 m H ½ F 1500 m H ½ F 5000 m H F 10,000 m F 100 m hurdles H ½ F 400 m hurdles H ½ F 3000 m steeplechase H F 4 × 100 m relay H F 4 × 400 m relay H F Marathon F 20 km walk F Long jump Q F Triple jump Q F High jump Q F Pole vault Q F Shot put Q F Discus throw Q F Javelin throw Q F Hammer throw Q F Heptathlon F
Qualification
The Olympic qualification criteria were simplified by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) from a two-tiered "A" and "B" standard approach to a single qualification standard. Each National Olympic Committee was entitled to send up to three athletes per event that had reached that standard in the period from 2015 to 11 July 2016. Nations without a qualified athlete could enter one male and one female athlete who had not achieved the standard. Marathon runners had additional ways to qualify in that top 20 World Championship or top 10 IAAF Gold Label race finishers were treated as having achieved the standard.
The relay teams entered were the top eight finishers at the 2015 IAAF World Relays plus the next eight highest ranking teams on the seasonal lists (based on an aggregate of their best two times).
Nations with a strong tradition in athletics which had many qualified athletes available for events typically held selection trials to determine their teams (such as the 2016 United States Olympic Trials), or relied on panel decisions by their national governing bodies to determine which athletes could compete.
Daily summaries
At the opening ceremony two figures from the sport of athletics played a key role: Olympic medallist in the marathon, Vanderlei de Lima, lit the Olympic flame for his home nation, while Kenya's Kipchoge Keino became the first recipient of the Olympic Laurel for his efforts in promoting sport.Minshull, Phil (2016-08-06). Marathon runner De Lima lights Olympic flame in Rio. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-08-22. Unlike most Summer Olympic Games, the athletics stadium in Rio was not the venue for the opening or closing ceremonies – that honour went to Brazil's foremost soccer venue, the Maracanã Stadium.Caetano Veloso mandou recado para o mundo: Fora Temer. Vermelho (2016-08-06). Retrieved on 2016-08-22.
First three days On the first day, the first gold medal was won by Almaz Ayana of Ethiopia, who broke a long-standing world record in the women's 10,000 metres by almost fifteen seconds. The race as a whole was historically fast, setting four of the five fastest times ever for the distance and seeing eight national records broken. China's Wang Zhen was the first male winner of the 2016 Olympic athletics, topping the 20 kilometres race walk podium. With her final throw of the event, Michelle Carter won the United States' first ever title in the women's shot put, preventing Valerie Adams from winning a third straight title. The first half of the heptathlon saw two athletes set a world heptathlon best: Belgium's Nafissatou Thiam and Great Britain's Katarina Johnson-Thompson both cleared for the high jump.Sammet, Michelle (2016-08-12). Day one in numbers – Rio 2016 Olympic Games. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-08-22. (Their marks would have been sufficient for the individual high jump gold.)Landells, Steve (2016-08-20). Report: women's high jump final – Rio 2016 Olympic Games. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-08-22.
The second day opened with a first in Olympic history as a man succeeded his brother as Olympic champion. In a dramatic final round, German discus thrower Christoph Harting moved up from fourth to gold medal position with a personal best throw and topped the podium as his brother Robert Harting had four years earlier. Mo Farah – a double-Olympic champion from 2012 – defended his 10,000 m crown in spite of a fall which saw him slip to the back of the pack during the middle of race. Farah had been one of three gold medallists for Great Britain on a "Super Saturday" for the host nation at the 2012 London Games, but the two others of that day did not prevail in Rio de Janeiro. Jessica Ennis entered as favourite for the Olympic heptathlon but was runner-up to Belgian Nafissatou Thiam in an upset which saw the 21-year-old add over three hundred points to her personal best score. Defending Olympic long jump champion Greg Rutherford was reduced to third place as American Jeff Henderson won the closely fought men's competition. Another defending champion was dethroned in the women's 100 metres: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce's attempt to become the first person to win three straight Olympic track titles was thwarted by Jamaican teammate Elaine Thompson.Arcoleo, Laura (2016-08-13). Ten things we learned on day two – Rio 2016 Olympic Games. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-08-22.
The morning final for the third day was the women's marathon, which saw Jemima Sumgong win Kenya's first Olympic gold medal for that event. The race was unusual in that two sets of twins crossed the line together: North Korea's Kim Hye-song and Kim Hye-gyong took tenth and eleventh while Germans Anna and Lisa Hahner were 81st and 82nd. Furthermore, Estonia's Lily, Leila and Liina Luik became the first triplets to feature in an Olympic final. In the women's triple jump Caterine Ibargüen won Colombia's first Olympic gold medal in athletics. As the first Olympics to be held in South America, Ibargüen became the first Olympic athletics champion from South America to be crowned on South American soil. Brazil's Thiago Braz da Silva became the second two days later. By the conclusion of the Olympics, Ibargüen, Yulimar Rojas (who finished second to Ibargüen) and da Silva were the only medalists from continental South America. Usain Bolt achieved the feat fellow Jamaican Fraser-Pryce had failed to do one day earlier by taking his third straight Olympic 100 m title. This made him the most decorated athlete in the 100 metres at the Olympics. South Africa's Wayde van Niekerk provided the second world record performance of the athletics programme with his win of the men's 400 metres in 43.03 seconds. This knocked 0.15 seconds of Michael Johnson's time which had gone unbeaten since 1999.Sammet, Michelle (2016-08-14). Day three in numbers – Rio 2016 Olympic Games. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-08-22.
Days 4, 5 and 6 The third and last athletics world record at the Olympics came on day four. Poland's Anita Włodarczyk was dominant in the hammer throw, becoming the first woman to throw beyond eighty metres three times in a competition and adding over a metre to her own world record with . Four of her six throws would have been sufficient to win. Another record was in sight for Ruth Jebet in the women's 3000 metres steeplechase, though she missed the mark by a second after slowing to celebrate winning Bahrain's first Olympic gold in any sport. In the women's 400 m Allyson Felix was stopped from winning an historic fifth Olympic gold by Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas, who dove at the line to win the race. Men's 800 metres world record holder David Rudisha defended his 800 m Olympic title, being the first man in over half a century to achieve that. A surprise victory for the hosts came via Thiago Braz da Silva, who added ten centimetres to his previous best to win in an Olympic record of 6.03 m ahead of world record holder Renaud Lavillenie of France.Sammet, Michelle (2016-08-16). Day four full of firsts – Rio 2016 Olympic Games. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-08-22. Departing from Olympic traditions, the home crowd booed Lavillenie while he was attempting his final vault and he was booed again at the medal ceremony after comparing his treatment to that of Jesse Owens at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Nazi Germany. The partisan treatment was criticised by da Silva, IOC President Thomas Bach and IAAF president Sebastian Coe, though defended by some as an intrinsic part of Brazilian sporting culture.Rio Olympics 2016: Renaud Lavillenie being booed 'shocking' - Thomas Bach. BBC Sport (2016-08-17). Retrieved on 2016-08-22.Duarte, Fernando (2016-08-19). Rio Olympics 2016: Why booing of French pole vaulter 'should not be condemned'. BBC Sport. Retrieved on 2016-08-22.Bates, Claire (2016-08-10). Rio Olympics 2016: Six types of Olympic booing. BBC Sport. Retrieved on 2016-08-22.
On the fifth morning, Croatia's Sandra Perković became the only woman to defend an individual Olympic athletics title that year, topping the discus podium. Christian Taylor became the only man in the field events to defend his 2012 Olympic title, repeating his American 1–2 finish with teammate Will Claye. The United States was less successful in the men's 110 metres hurdles: its athletes failed to gain a medal for the first time ever (bar the 1980 boycott) while Jamaican Omar McLeod won by over a tenth of a second. Faith Kipyegon was a clear winner in the women's 1500 metres ahead of Ethiopia's Genzebe Dibaba. Derek Drouin won Canada's first Olympic gold in athletics in twenty years in the men's high jump.Arcoleo, Laura (2016-08-17). Day five in numbers – Rio 2016 Olympic Games. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-08-22. In the women's 5000 m heats American Abbey D'Agostino and Nikki Hamblin of New Zealand fell during the race. D'Agostino stopped to help Hamblin to her feet, but then struggled herself with what would be diagnosed as a torn ACL, which led Hamblin to help in turn so the pair could finish. The pair were later given the Fair Play award by the International Fair Play Committee for their show of sportsmanship.D’Agostino and Hamblin receive Fair Play awards from CIFP. IAAF/IOC (2016-08-21). Retrieved on 2016-08-22.