Athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

was one of the sports at the biennial

Far Eastern Championship Games The Far Eastern Championship Games (also known as the Far Eastern Championships, Far Eastern Games or Far East Games) was an Asian multi-sport event considered to be a precursor to the Asian Games. History In 1913, Elwood Brown, president of ...

. Athletics competitions were held at every one of the ten editions of the games, which existed between 1913 and 1934. This represented the first time that a regular major international athletics competition occurred between Asian nations. It was later succeeded by

athletics at the Asian Games Athletics is an Asian Games event since 1951 in New Delhi, India. Among major athletics tournaments of the region, it succeeded the athletics at the Far Eastern Championship Games, which had ceased to be held after 1938. Editions Events ...

, which began in 1951. At the start of the 20th century, the Philippines was initially the most developed nation in

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

sports given its close ties to the United States through its

Insular Government The Insular Government of the Philippine IslandsThis form of the name appeared in the titles of U.S. Supreme Court cases, but was otherwise rarely used. See s:Costas v. Insular Government of the Philippine Islands/Opinion of the Court, Costas v ...

, which ruled the country as a territory. As the head of the

Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation The Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation (PAAF) was the governing body of sports in the Philippines and the predecessor of the Philippine Olympic Committee. History The Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation was organized in a permanent basis ...

and physical director of the national

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...

branch,

Elwood Brown Elwood Stanley Brown (April 9, 1883 – March 24, 1924) was an American sports organizer in Illinois, Manila, Europe, and South America. In his short life, he had a number of major accomplishments, such as, the intensive promotion of sports amo ...

had set about developing American sports in the Philippines. He was central to the creation of the Far Eastern Athletic Association and track and field was a main aspect of the Far Eastern Championship Games from the inaugural edition.England, Frederick O. (1926)
History of the Far Eastern Athletic Association
Official Bulletin of the International Olympic Committee (pg. 18-19). Retrieved on 2015-01-10. Correspondingly, in the first half of the competition's history, the Philippines was the most dominant nation in the athletics programme, going unbeaten in the first five editions. Japan's development in Western track and field coincided with the launch of the games, with the country holding its first national championships for the sport in 1913. Developing through similar means of engagement with the YMCA sports programme in the country, the country became the dominant force in athletics in the mid-1920s and won four of the last five championship titles in the sport.England, Frederick O. (1926)
History of the Far Eastern Athletic Association
Official Bulletin of the International Olympic Committee (pg. 19-20). Retrieved on 2015-01-10. Outside the Western-defined track events, Japan was consistently dominant in the middle- and long-distance running events from the beginning of the competition, owing to its tradition of distance running including the Kanto 10-mile road race (held near Narita since the late 19th century) and its well-developed

ekiden is a long-distance running multi-stage relay race, mostly held on Road running, roads.Otake, Tomoko. ''One for All.'' Dec. 28, 200The Japan Times accessed Feb. 19, 2009. The original Japanese term had nothing to do with a sport or a competiti ...

foot messenger system. Chinese track and field athletes, led by their local YMCA athletic group, also developed over the period that the competition was held, but as the 20th century progressed they quickly fell behind the standard set by Japan and the Philippines; China began to emerge as a regional power in athletics in the 1970s.

Editions

Events

Over the 21-year history of the competition, only men's athletics events were included. For the first six editions of the competition (1913 to 1923), athletics track events were contested over imperial distances. These were changed to metric distances from 1925 onwards, in line with international and Olympic standards. The number of events contested stayed relatively stable and (excluding distance variations in running events) the only additions were the

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the wom ...

in 1917 and the

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

in 1923 – both events where Japanese athletes were dominant.Far Eastern Championship Games
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-01-10. The events programme roughly aligned with that of the Olympics, with notable differences being the absence of marathon, steeplechase,

racewalking 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 ...

, and

hammer throw The hammer throw is one of the four throwing events in regular track and field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and javelin. The "hammer" used in this sport is not like any of the tools also called by that name. It consist ...

events. * The 1934 edition of the 200 metres was held in a "turn" format, as opposed to the usual straight format * Between 1921 and 1930 a lighter than international standard implement was used in the shot put. * A variety of

combined track and field events Combined track and field events are competitions in which athletes participate in a number of track and field events, earning points for their performance in each event, which adds to a total points score. Outdoors, the most common combined events ...

points scoring methods were used over the history of the competition.

Multiple champions

Given that the games were held during a period when athletics was a developing sport in the three participating nations, several athletes were dominant in their events at the competition. The event also saw the development of some of the region's athletes into international standard competitors. Foremost of these was Japanese athlete

Mikio Oda was a Japanese athlete and the first Japanese Olympic gold medalist. He was the first Asian Olympic champion in an individual event.1928 Amsterdam Olympics by winning the triple jump. Three-time Far Eastern high jump champion

Simeon Toribio Simeon Galvez Toribio (September 3, 1905 – June 5, 1969) was a Filipino high jumper. He competed at the 1928, 1932 and 1936 Olympics and won a bronze medal in 1932. In 1928, he cleared the same height as the silver and bronze medalists Benja ...

became the first Olympic medallist for the Philippines at the

1932 Los Angeles Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932 in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held duri ...

. Takayoshi Yoshioka, a three-time Far Eastern sprint champion, equalled the men's 100 metres world record in 1935 – the first and so far only Asian athlete to achieve that feat in the event. Kosaku Sumiyoshi won the Far Eastern javelin title three times and was an Olympic finalist in 1932. Fortunato Catalon was the most successful competitor in the athletics section of the Far Eastern Championship Games. He won nine individual sprint titles from 1917–1925, including four consecutive sprint doubles in the

100-yard dash 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length&nb ...

and 220-yard dash. His compatriots

Genaro Saavedra Genaro Saavedra (born 1895) was a Filipino track and field athlete and four-time Far Eastern Championship Games champion. While at high school in Ambos Camarines, Saavedra was trained by a Nebraskan sports coach, Clinton "Doc" Fehliman,

and Regino Ylanan—each with four titles to their name—were the only athletes other than Catalon and Oda to claim more than three individual titles. Ylanan had a lasting legacy in Filipino sport through the creation of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

in the Philippines which, like its American equivalent, remains the organiser for national level college sports.

Katsuo Okazaki was a Japanese sportsman, diplomat and political figure. He served as the Japanese foreign minister in the 1950s. He was also the final – and only Japanese – chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council. Early life Okazaki was born on 10 Ju ...

was the competition's most successful

middle-distance runner Middle-distance running events are track races longer than sprints, up to 3000 metres. The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be classified as a middle-distance event. The 1 ...

(having won two titles in the

mile run The mile run (1,760 yards or exactly 1,609.344 metres) is a middle-distance foot race. The history of the mile run event began in England, where it was used as a distance for gambling races. It survived track and field's switch to ...

and one in the 880-yard run) and went on to greater success outside of the field of sport by serving as

Minister for Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

for Japan in the 1950s and a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

delegate in the 1960s.

Olympic medallists

The competition was the first venue for international athletics between specifically Asian nations. As a result, the games was the place where Asia's top international athletes of the period first found success. Nine of these athletes went on to claim Asia's first Olympic athletics medals. Two Filipinos,

and

Miguel White Miguel S. White (October 9, 1909 – August 30, 1942) was a Filipino track and field athlete of Filipino-American descent who competed for the Philippines in the 400 metre hurdles at the 1936 Summer Olympics held in Berlin, Germany, winning a br ...

, were Far Eastern champions that later won Olympic bronze medals, Toribio in the high jump and White in the

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once ...

. As of 2015, these remain the only athletes from that nation to have reached the Olympic podium in athletics competition. A total of seven Far Eastern Championship Games athletes went on to win athletics medals for Japan at the Olympics. The first of these was

Mikio Oda was a Japanese athlete and the first Japanese Olympic gold medalist. He was the first Asian Olympic champion in an individual event.Chuhei Nambu succeeded him to that honour four years later and

Kenkichi Oshima was a Japanese triple jumper who won a bronze medal at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. He was the flag bearer for Japan at the 1936 Games in Berlin. Japan Athletics Men's Triple Jump Results
Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2015-01-10. both had been minor medallists in the Far Eastern triple jump behind Oda.

Naoto Tajima was a Japanese athlete who competed at the 1932 and 1936 Olympics. In 1932 he finished sixth in the long jump, while in 1936 he finished third in the long jump, behind Jesse Owens and Luz Long, and won the triple jump event, setting a world rec ...

was a bronze medallist behind Oshima at the 1934 Far Eastern Championship Games but went on to become the third successive Olympic triple jump champion for Japan two years later. The 1934 runner-up

Masao Harada was a Japanese athlete who competed mainly in the triple jump. In this event he won a silver medal at the 1936 Olympics. He won two more silver medals, in the long jump and triple jump, at the 1934 Far Eastern Championship Games The 1934 Far Ea ...

was also the Olympic runner-up behind Tajima. Both Tajima and Nambu also won Olympic long jump medals in the 1930s. Outside of the horizontal jumps, Japanese athletes of the period also had success in the Olympic pole vault. The 1930 Far Eastern champion

Shuhei Nishida was a Japanese Olympic athlete who competed mainly in the pole vault.Sueo Oe, the man who succeeded him as Far Eastern gold medallist, was also on the Olympic podium in 1936.Japan Athletics Men's Pole Vault Results
Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2015-01-10.

Medal table

References

{{defunct athletics competitions

Far Eastern Championship Games