2016 in the sport of athletics

2016 in athletics
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2016 in sports
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2016 in sports

In 2016, the foremost athletics events will be staged at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. The two other major global level competitions in 2016 are the World Indoor Championships and World Half Marathon Championships.

A new addition to the continental tournament schedule came in the form of the 2016 European Athletics Youth Championships.[1] Two long-running competitions were renamed and held under new titles in 2016. The World Junior Championships in Athletics became the 2016 IAAF World U20 Championships and the IAAF World Race Walking Cup was held as the 2016 IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships.[2]

The hosting of the two above events had to be reopened as they were affected by the suspension of the All-Russia Athletic Federation as a result of contraventions of the World Anti-Doping Code.[3][4] As a major nation in athletics, Russia's ban meant the absence of many world class athletes from competition. Kenya – another prominent country – was subject to a World Anti-Doping Agency plan to improve its own anti-doping infrastructure, on pain of exclusion from international events.[5]

  1. ^ About Championships. Tbilisi2016. Retrieved on 2016-05-28.
  2. ^ IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships Rome 2016 Facts & Figures. IAAF (2016). Retrieved on 2016-05-07.
  3. ^ Rome and Bydgoszcz to host reallocated 2016 IAAF World Athletics Series events. IAAF (2016-01-07). Retrieved on 2016-05-28.
  4. ^ Athletics doping scandal: Russia federation accepts IAAF ban. BBC Sport (2016-11-26). Retrieved on 2016-05-28.
  5. ^ Kenya changes anti-doping laws in bid to avoid Olympic ban. BBC Sport (2016-05-27. Retrieved on 2016-05-28.