History

• The first Olympic running race dates to 776 BC. The 600-foot-long stadium race, held in Athens, was won by a cook from the city of Elis.
  
  

U.S. Track and Field History

• Track and field athletics in the United States dates to the 1860s. The Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletics of America, the first national athletic group, hosted its first collegiate races in 1873.
  
  

Modern Sport

• Track was considered a purely amateur sport, and runners could not accept cash prizes or money for their training. Legend Jim Thorpe was stripped of his Olympic running medals in 1912 when it was learned he had played semi-professional baseball.
  
  

Expansion

• Running expanded in the 1920s, and the first NCAA national championships took place in 1921. Women's track and field became part of the Olympics in 1928.
  
  

The Marathon

• The marathon was not an ancient Olympic event. It became part of the games in 1896. Today, the marathon is a 26-mile, 385-yard event. That is the exact distance from Windsor Castle and the White City Stadium, where the Olympic event was held in London in 1908.