Celebrating the Return of Track & Field, the Original Olympic Sport

Operating is the everyman’s sport. It blurs the boundaries of age, measurement, and ethnicity. The barrier to entry isn’t depending on standing or cash. You grind in free areas—again roads and dust trails—with nothing greater than the sneakers in your toes. With monitor and subject, these sentiments solely heighten. You develop as a person, however profit the crew. The teachings realized therein transcend sport. You be taught the place to push, when to remain in your lane, and how you can lean into discomfort. And its origins as a spectator sport are far-reaching.

Monitor and subject’s historical past might be traced again to 776 BCE, when it was helmed as the primary Olympic sport—remaining the solely occasion on the Video games till 724 BCE. Freeborn Greek males sprinted equivalents of 200 meters and 400 meters; competed in distance occasions; and duked it out within the pentathlon (discus toss, javelin throw, lengthy leap, sprinting occasions, and wrestling). Athletes who earned a spot on the rostrum acquired sealstones—just like our modern-day medals—a gemstone sometimes bearing an engraving of Nike, a winged goddess that personified victory. In Greek mythology, she was a messenger of the gods, sometimes proven with a wreath or ribbon with which to crown triumphant athletes.

These days Nike’s a titan in a distinct sense. The corporate is a stalwart of velocity. Its iconic Swoosh adorns the sneakers of among the quickest runners on Earth hailing from all corners of the globe—from Kenya to Oregon, Nike’s birthplace. The College of Oregon’s Hayward Area is the place the origin story begins.

In 1973, the fledgling firm signed its first athlete: Steve Prefontaine, a gutsy 22-year-old distance working prodigy. Historic Greek athletes have been valorous in that competing in chariot racing typically resulted in being mangled or trampled to demise—however that’s what fueled the crowds. They received drunk off the hazard. Prefontaine understood the draw. He approached working—or higher but, racing—with a warrior spirit and gave it the identical enchantment as watching horses thundering round a circus. He wasn’t timid. He went out exhausting, by no means doubting his endurance or velocity would falter.