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The modern Summer Olympic Games have been held every four years since the first Games in 1896 (except 1916 due to the First World War, 1940 and 1944 due to the Second World War, and 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic) and Olympic records are recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in each event. The athletics events, which take place at each Games, are divided into four groups: track events (including sprints, middle- and long-distance running, hurdling and relays), field events (including javelin, discus, hammer, pole vault, long and triple jumps), road events (such as walks and the marathon) and combined events (the heptathlon and the decathlon). Women compete in 23 athletics events during the Games, and men compete in 24; while 21 of the events are the same for both men and women, men exclusively compete in the 50 km walk, the women's combined event is the heptathlon while the men compete in the decathlon, and the short distance hurdles for women is contested over 100 m, ten metres shorter than the men's event.

Some Olympic records have been broken but later rescinded by the IOC. In 1988, Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson broke the Olympic and World record in the 100 metres sprint, but was subsequently disqualified after it was discovered that he had used anabolic steroids to enhance his performance. His record was expunged and the gold medal was instead awarded to original silver medalist American Carl Lewis. Hungarian athlete Róbert Fazekas broke the Olympic record in the men's discus in 2004 but was later stripped of both his gold medal and the record after it was deemed that he had "committed an anti-doping rule violation".

The longest standing modern Olympic athletics record is Bob Beamon's achievement in the men's long jump at the 1968 Summer Olympics. The jump, at 8.90 m (29 ft 2 in), also broke the existing world record by 55 cm (22 in), and stood as the world record for 23 years until Beamon's compatriot, Mike Powell, jumped farther in the 1991 World Championships in Athletics in Tokyo.

Note, only those events currently competed for and recognised by the IOC as Summer Olympic events are listed.

Key

  No longer contested at the Summer Olympics

Men's records

♦ denotes a performance that is also a current world record. Statistics are correct as of August 5, 2024.

List of men's Olympic records in athletics

Event	Record	Athlete(s)	Nation	Games	Date	Ref(s)
100 metres	9.63	Usain Bolt	Jamaica (JAM)	2012 London	August 5, 2012
200 metres	19.30	Usain Bolt	Jamaica (JAM)	2008 Beijing	August 20, 2008
400 metres	♦43.03	Wayde van Niekerk	South Africa (RSA)	2016 Rio de Janeiro	August 14, 2016
800 metres	♦1:40.91	David Rudisha	Kenya (KEN)	2012 London	August 9, 2012
1,500 metres	3:27.65	Cole Hocker	United States (USA)	2024 Paris	August 6, 2024
5,000 metres	12:57.82	Kenenisa Bekele	Ethiopia (ETH)	2008 Beijing	August 23, 2008
10,000 metres	26:43.14	Joshua Cheptegei	Uganda (UGA)	2024 Paris	August 2, 2024
Marathon	2:06:26	Tamirat Tola	Ethiopia (ETH)	2024 Paris	August 10, 2024
110 metres hurdles	12.91	Liu Xiang	China (CHN)	2004 Athens	August 27, 2004
400 metres hurdles	♦45.94	Karsten Warholm	Norway (NOR)	2020 Tokyo	August 3, 2021
3,000 m steeplechase	8:03.28	Conseslus Kipruto	Kenya (KEN)	2016 Rio de Janeiro	August 17, 2016
4×100 m relay	♦36.84	Nesta Carter Michael Frater Yohan Blake Usain Bolt	Jamaica (JAM)	2012 London	August 11, 2012
4×400 m relay	2:54.43	Christopher Bailey Vernon Norwood Bryce Deadmon Rai Benjamin	United States (USA)	2024 Paris	August 10, 2024
20 km walk	1:18:46	Chen Ding	China (CHN)	2012 London	August 4, 2012
50 km walk	3:36:53	Jared Tallent	Australia (AUS)	2012 London	August 11, 2012
High jump	2.39 m	Charles Austin	United States (USA)	1996 Atlanta	July 28, 1996
Long jump	8.90 m	Bob Beamon	United States (USA)	1968 Mexico City	October 18, 1968
Pole vault	6.25 m	Armand Duplantis	Sweden (SWE)	2024 Paris	August 5, 2024
Triple jump	18.09 m	Kenny Harrison	United States (USA)	1996 Atlanta	July 27, 1996
Shot put	23.30 m	Ryan Crouser	United States (USA)	2020 Tokyo	August 5, 2021
Discus throw	70.00 m	Rojé Stona	Jamaica (JAM)	2024 Paris	August 7, 2024
Hammer throw	84.80 m	Sergey Litvinov	Soviet Union (URS)	1988 Seoul	September 26, 1988
Javelin throw	92.97 m	Arshad Nadeem	Pakistan (PAK)	2024 Paris	August 8, 2024
Decathlon	9018 pts	Damian Warner	Canada (CAN)	2020 Tokyo	August 5, 2021

Women's records

♦ denotes a performance that is also a current world record. Statistics are correct as of August 9, 2024.

List of women's Olympic records in athletics

Event	Record	Athlete(s)	Nation	Games	Date	Ref(s)
100 metres	10.61	Elaine Thompson Herah	Jamaica (JAM)	2020 Tokyo	July 31, 2021
200 metres	♦21.34	Florence Griffith Joyner	United States (USA)	1988 Seoul	September 29, 1988
400 metres	48.17	Marileidy Paulino	Dominican Republic (DOM)	2024 Paris	August 9, 2024
800 metres	1:53.43	Nadezhda Olizarenko	Soviet Union (URS)	1980 Moscow	July 27, 1980
1,500 metres	3:51.29	Faith Kipyegon	Kenya (KEN)	2024 Paris	August 10, 2024
5,000 metres	14:26.17	Vivian Cheruiyot	Kenya (KEN)	2016 Rio de Janeiro	August 19, 2016
10,000 metres	29:17.45	Almaz Ayana	Ethiopia (ETH)	2016 Rio de Janeiro	August 12, 2016
Marathon	2:22:55	Sifan Hassan	Netherlands (NED)	2024 Paris	August 11, 2024
100 metres hurdles	12.26	Jasmine Camacho-Quinn	Puerto Rico (PUR)	2020 Tokyo	August 1, 2021
400 metres hurdles	♦50.37	Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone	United States (USA)	2024 Paris	August 8, 2024
3,000 m steeplechase	8:52.76	Winfred Yavi	Bahrain (BRN)	2024 Paris	August 6, 2024
4 × 100 m relay	♦40.82	Tianna Madison Allyson Felix Bianca Knight Carmelita Jeter	United States (USA)	2012 London	August 10, 2012
4 × 400 m relay	♦3:15.17	Tatyana Ledovskaya Olga Nazarova Mariya Pinigina Olga Bryzgina	Soviet Union (URS)	1988 Seoul	October 1, 1988
20 km walk	1:25:16	Qieyang Shijie	China (CHN)	2012 London	August 11, 2012
High jump	2.06 m	Yelena Slesarenko	Russia (RUS)	2004 Athens	August 28, 2004
Long jump	7.40 m	Jackie Joyner-Kersee	United States (USA)	1988 Seoul	September 29, 1988
Pole vault	5.05 m	Yelena Isinbayeva	Russia (RUS)	2008 Beijing	August 18, 2008
Triple jump	15.67 m	Yulimar Rojas	Venezuela (VEN)	2020 Tokyo	August 1, 2021
Shot put	22.41 m	Ilona Slupianek	East Germany (GDR)	1980 Moscow	July 24, 1980
Discus throw	72.30 m	Martina Hellmann	East Germany (GDR)	1988 Seoul	September 29, 1988
Hammer throw	82.29 m	Anita Włodarczyk	Poland (POL)	2016 Rio de Janeiro	August 15, 2016
Javelin throw	71.53 m	Osleidys Menéndez	Cuba (CUB)	2004 Athens	August 27, 2004
Heptathlon	♦7291 pts	Jackie Joyner-Kersee	United States (USA)	1988 Seoul	September 24, 1988

Mixed records

♦ denotes a performance that is also a current world record. Statistics are correct as of August 7, 2024.

List of mixed Olympic records in athletics

Event	Record	Athlete(s)	Nation	Games	Date	Ref(s)
4 × 400 m relay	♦3:07.41	Vernon Norwood Shamier Little Bryce Deadmon Kaylyn Brown	United States (USA)	2024 Paris	August 2, 2024

Combined event bests

The International Olympic Committee maintains a list of the best Olympic results in each decathlon and heptathlon discipline.

List of men's Olympic decathlon bests

Event	Record	Athlete(s)	Nation	Games	Date	Ref(s)
100 metres	10.12	Damian Warner	Canada (CAN)	2020 Tokyo	August 3, 2021
Long jump	8.24 m	Damian Warner	Canada (CAN)	2020 Tokyo	August 3, 2021
Shot put	16.97 m	Michael Smith	Canada (CAN)	1996 Atlanta	July 30, 1996
High jump	2.27 m	Christian Schenk	East Germany (GDR)	1988 Seoul	September 27, 1988
400 metres	45.68	Bill Toomey	United States (USA)	1968 Mexico City	October 17, 1968
110 metre hurdles	13.46	Damian Warner	Canada (CAN)	2020 Tokyo	August 4, 2021
Discus throw	53.91 m	Lindon Victor	Grenada (GRN)	2024 Paris	August 3, 2024
Pole vault	5.70 m	Tim Bright	United States (USA)	1988 Seoul	September 28, 1988
Javelin throw	77.78 m	Niklas Kaul	Germany (GER)	2024 Paris	August 3, 2024
1500 metres	4:05.90	Leonid Lytvynenko	Soviet Union (URS)	1972 Munich	September 8, 1972

List of women's Olympic heptathlon bests

Event	Record	Athlete(s)	Nation	Games	Date	Ref(s)
100 metre hurdles	12.54	Jessica Ennis-Hill	Great Britain (GBR)	2012 London	August 2, 2012
High jump	1.98 m	Katarina Johnson-Thompson Nafissatou Thiam	Great Britain (GBR)  Belgium (BEL)	2016 Rio de Janeiro	August 11, 2016
Shot put	17.31 m	Austra Skujyte	Lithuania (LTU)	2012 London	August 2, 2012
200 metres	22.56	Jackie Joyner-Kersee	United States (USA)	1988 Seoul	September 22, 1988
Long jump	7.27 m	Jackie Joyner-Kersee	United States (USA)	1988 Seoul	September 23, 1988
Javelin throw	56.96 m	Sofia Ifantidou	Greece (GRE)	2012 London	August 3, 2012
800 metres	2:03.60	Olga Nemogayeva	Soviet Union (URS)	1980 Moscow	July 23, 1980

1. Before 1984, women competed in the pentathlon instead of the heptathlon.

See also

• Athletics
• Olympics

• List of world records in athletics

References

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External links

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• "Statistics – Records by event". International Association of Athletics Federations. Archived from the original on 19 September 2012. Retrieved 5 September 2008.

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