Current season, competition or edition: 2018 Spanish Athletics Championships | |
Sport | Athletics |
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Founded | 1917 |
Country | Spain |
The Spanish Athletics Championships (Spanish: Campeonato de España de atletismo) is an annual outdoor track and field competition organised by the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation (RFEA), which serves as the Spanish national championship for the sport. It is typically held as a two-day event in the Spanish summer around late June to early August. The venue of the championships is decided on an annual basis.
The competition was first held in 1917 as a men's only competition. A separate women's began in 1931 but, following the onset of the Spanish Civil War, this was cancelled after 1935 and it was not until 1963 that women events were added alongside the men's programme.[1] This made Spain the last large European country to provide a national championship for women in the sport and female participation in sport in general in Spain was low due to a lack of physical education, facilities and funding for women's sport. This stemmed from the policy of National Catholicism, which saw women's place as caregivers and physical feats by them as a challenge to morality.[2][3][4]
The championships has been held every years since its inauguration with the exception of 1922 and three years during the civil war (1937, 1938, and 1939). The modern event is used for the Spanish international selection for major athletics events, including the Olympic Games, World Championships in Athletics and European Athletics Championships.