Athletics Australia is the national sporting organisation (NSO) recognised by

Sport Australia The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) is the Australian Government commission responsible for supporting and investing in sport in Australia. The Commission incorporates the Australian Institute of Sport. From 2018 to 2022, it was known as S ...

for the

sport of athletics Athletics is a group of sporting events that involves competitive running, jumping, throwing sports, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and racewalking ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. First founded in 1897, the organisation is responsible for administering a sport with over 16,000 registered athletes, coaches and officials.- Athletics Australia - Annual Report 2006/07

History

Athletics Australia (AA) was originally the Athletic Union of

Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologi ...

, an amateur group founded in 1897. In 1928,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

broke away to form its own national body, leaving what was known as the Amateur Athletics Union of Australia (AAU). In 1932, an Australian Women's Amateur Athletics Union (AWAAU) was instituted and remained responsible for women's athletics until 1978. In that year, the separate national unions amalgamated into one governing body which, in 1989, was rebranded as Athletics Australia.

Overview

Athletics Australia conducts the Australian Athletics Tour and the

Australian Athletics Championships The Australian Athletics Championships or Australian Open Track and Field Championships are held annually to determine Australia's champion athletes in a range of athletics events. The championships are the primary qualification trial for athlet ...

, where athletes compete to gain selection for the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

and

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

. The association also provides co-ordination, guidance, and support to member associations and affiliates, which govern athletics in their respective states, territories or jurisdictions (e.g.

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

athletics). A number of committees and commissions specialise in areas such as

race walking Racewalking, or race walking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Race judges carefully asse ...

coaching Coaching is a form of development in which an experienced person, called a ''coach'', supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance. The learner is sometimes called a ''coa ...

and anti-doping.

Hall of Fame

Athletics Australia established its Hall of Fame in 2000 to recognise outstanding achievement among Australia's greatest athletes. Induction is at the discretion of Athletics Australia's Special Awards Committee.

References

External links

* {{Authority control

Athletics in Australia Sports governing bodies in Australia 1897 establishments in Australia Sports organizations established in 1897 National governing bodies for athletics

History

Overview

Hall of Fame

See also

References

External links