Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics were held during the last ten days of the Games. They were due to be held from 31 July – 9 August 2020, at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Japan. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the games were postponed to 2021, with the track and field events set for 30 July – 8 August. The sport of athletics at these Games was split into three distinct sets of events: track and field events, remaining in Tokyo, and road running events and racewalking events, moved to Sapporo. A total of 48 events were held, one more than in 2016, with the addition of a mixed relay event.

Olympic stadium and venues

The National Stadium, which was known as the Olympic Stadium during the games, completely rebuilt and inaugurated on 21 December 2019, was the venue of all the track and field events, while road events (marathons and racewalks) took place at Odori Park in Sapporo.

Italian company Mondo equipped the stadium with a new track, a Mondotrack WS surface which was given a seal of approval with a World Athletics "Class 1 certificate" in December 2019. The Mondotrack WS surface in Tokyo's National Stadium is a better and updated version of the track that was provided and installed for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Due to the risk of a heat wave during the period of the Games, the IOC, Organizing Committee and IAAF decided in October 2019 that the Race Walking and Marathon events would be moved to Sapporo, which hosted the 1972 Winter Olympics. The route started and arrived at Odori Park and is the traditional venue of Hokkaido Marathon until 2012, featuring a large loop which is about the length of a half-marathon (21,095 km), followed by a second smaller loop (10,540 km) which was completed twice. Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Marathon Course

Schedule

Apart from the race walks and marathon, nine track and field events will hold finals in the morning session to ensure that they receive maximum visibility for the sport across all time zones. On 16 October 2019, the IOC announced that there were plans to re-locate the marathon and racewalking events to Sapporo due to heat concerns. The plans were made official on 1 November 2019 after Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike accepted the IOC's decision, despite her belief that the events should have remained in Tokyo.

+Ref Men's Date Jul 30 Jul 31 Aug 1 Aug 2 Aug 3 Aug 4 Aug 5 Aug 6 Aug 7 Aug 8Event M E M E M E M E M E M E M E M E M E M E 100 m P 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 Jul 30 Jul 31 Aug 1 Aug 2 Aug 3 Aug 4 Aug 5 Aug 6 Aug 7 Aug 8Event M E M E M E M E M E M E M E M E M E M E 100 m 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 Mixed Date Jul 30 Jul 31 Event M E M E 4 × 400 m relay H F

Qualification

The 2020 athletics qualifying system for individual events was fundamentally different from previous versions. Instead of being only based on set qualifying standards, the new qualifying system is also based on IAAF World Rankings. Qualifying standards provided an alternate pathway, but are to be set high enough that only exceptional performances will meet them. Maximum entries per event were set (unlike previous years where entries were based on how many athletes met the qualifying standard), with the world rankings being used to fill the quota after the standards-based entrants and universality entrants are set.

On 2 June 2021, Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics, declared that "our tracking suggests that about 70 percent of athletes in most events will qualify by entry standard. This is above the 50 percent rate we aimed for in devising the system, but we believe this is due to the extended qualifying period created after the postponement of the Olympic Games from 2020 to 2021."

For relays, the qualification is somewhat similar to previous years. Eight teams will be selected through the results at the 2019 World Championships in Athletics, then adding the finalists of 2021 World Athletics Relays if different ones and some more selected through top lists' rankings, up to 16 teams by event.

Record figures

3 world records and 12 Olympic records were set. 28 continental (area) records were set along with 151 national ones.

According to the international governing body for the sport of athletics, World Athletics, their performance ranking system concludes that the 2020 Olympic Games were the "highest quality major event in history".

Medal summary

Medal table Key

Men 9.80 9.84 9.89 19.62 19.68 19.74 = 43.85 44.08 44.19 1:45.06 1:45.23 1:45.39 3:28.32 , 3:29.01 3:29.05 12:58.15 12:58.61 12:59.05 27:43.22 27:43.63 27:43.88 13.04 13.09 13.10 45.94 46.17 46.72 8:08.90 8:10.38 8:11.45 Lorenzo PattaMarcell JacobsFausto DesaluFilippo Tortu 37.50 Aaron BrownJerome BlakeBrendon RodneyAndre De Grasse 37.70 Tang XingqiangXie ZhenyeSu BingtianWu Zhiqiang 37.79 Michael CherryMichael NormanBryce DeadmonRai BenjaminVernon Norwood*Randolph Ross*Trevor Stewart* 2:55.70 Liemarvin BonevaciaTerrence AgardTony van DiepenRamsey AngelaJochem Dobber* 2:57.18 Isaac MakwalaBaboloki ThebeZibane NgoziBayapo Ndori 2:57.27 2:08:38 2:09:58 2:10:00 1:21:05 1:21:14 1:21:28 3:50:08 3:50:44 3:50:59 2.37 m Not awarded 2.37 m =Equalled also his 2.37 m at Bregyó Athletic Center, Székesfehérvár (HUN) on 6 July 2021 and his previous 2.37 metres indoors (Toruń 2021). 6.02 m 5.97 m 5.87 m 8.41 m 8.41 m 8.21 m 17.98 m 17.57 m 17.47 m 23.30 m 22.65 m 22.47 m 68.90 m 67.39 m 67.07 m 82.52 m 81.58 m 81.53 m 87.58 m 86.67 m 85.44 m 9018 pts 8726 pts 8649 pts

* Indicates the athlete only competed in the preliminary heats and received medals. On 18 February 2022 team of Great Britain was disqualified for doping use and officially stripped of the silver medal. The medals were reallocated on 19 May 2022.

Women 10.61 10.74 10.76 21.53 21.81 21.87 48.36 49.20 49.46 MWR 1:55.21 1:55.88 1:56.81 3:53.11 3:54.50 3:55.86 14:36.79 14:38.36 14:38.87 29:55.32 29:56.18 30:01.72 12.37 12.52 12.55 51.46 51.58 52.03 9:01.45 9:04.79 9:05.39 Briana WilliamsElaine Thompson-HerahShelly-Ann Fraser-PryceShericka JacksonNatasha Morrison*Remona Burchell* 41.02 Javianne OliverTeahna DanielsJenna PrandiniGabby ThomasEnglish Gardner*Aleia Hobbs* 41.45 Asha PhilipImani LansiquotDina Asher-SmithDaryll Neita 41.88 Sydney McLaughlinAllyson FelixDalilah MuhammadAthing MuKendall Ellis*Lynna Irby*Wadeline Jonathas*Kaylin Whitney* 3:16.85 Natalia KaczmarekIga Baumgart-WitanMałgorzata Hołub-KowalikJustyna Święty-ErseticAnna Kiełbasińska* 3:20.53 Roneisha McGregorJanieve RussellShericka JacksonCandice McLeodJunelle Bromfield*Stacey-Ann Williams* 3:21.24 2:27:20 2:27:36 2:27:46 1:29:12 1:29:37 1:29:57 2.04 m 2.02 m 2.00 m 4.90 m 4.85 m 4.85 m 7.00 m 6.97 m 6.97 m 15.67 m 15.01 m 14.87 m 20.58 m 19.79 m 19.62 m 68.98 m 66.86 m 65.72 m 78.48 m MWR 77.03 75.49 m 66.34 m 64.61 m 64.56 m 6791 pts 6689 pts 6590 pts

* Indicates the athlete only competed in the preliminary heats and received medals.

Mixed Kajetan DuszyńskiNatalia KaczmarekJustyna Święty-ErseticKarol ZalewskiDariusz Kowaluk*Iga Baumgart-Witan*Małgorzata Hołub-Kowalik* 3:09.87 , Lidio Andrés FelizAnabel MedinaAlexander OgandoMarileidy PaulinoLuguelín Santos* 3:10.21 Kendall EllisVernon NorwoodTrevor StewartKaylin WhitneyElija Godwin*Lynna Irby*Taylor Manson*Bryce Deadmon* 3:10.22

* Indicates the athlete only competed in the preliminary heats and received medals.

Competitors

Placing table The Placing table assigns points to the top eight athletes in the final, with eight points to first place, seven to second place, and so on until one point for eighth place. Teams or athletes that did not finish or were disqualified do not receive points.

RankTeam45678Pts1 7127655732642 414422331063 442501201044 42301111745 22213311706 22203233697 23311101688 11251202649 023113325810 012223225211 120132135012 500010225013 001432014514 211010103515 001231013116 101210103017 110120002818 011003222818 210000202719 010120222621 012010022422 210000002323 200001012024 110001022025 100200021926 002100001727 020000101628 002001001529 020000001430 000111101431 001011011332 011000001333 010001101234 000102011235 100010001236 100001001137 001100001138 010001001039 000021001040 00100011941 00011000942 10000001843 10000000843 10000000845 00100010846 00010100847 00100001748 00010010749 00100000650 00010000550 00010000550 00010000553 00001002554 00000110555 00001000455 00001000455 00001000455 00001000455 00001000455 00001000461 00000100361 00000100361 00000100364 00000100265 00000010265 00000010265 00000010268 00000010269 00000002270 00000001170 000000011

See also Athletics at the 2018 Asian Games Athletics at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Athletics at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics Athletics at the 2019 African Games Athletics at the 2019 European Games Athletics at the 2019 Pacific Games Athletics at the 2019 Pan American Games Athletics at the 2020 Summer Paralympics

References

External links Results book