Athletics

The word “Field” refers to athletic sports actually done on the field.Field events include pole vault,high jump,and long jump. The first one is called the “pole vault” because the athlete uses a pole (galah) for jumping ( vaulting ). Other sports which are usually found in a field events are the Javelin,discus and short-put. They are what we call “lempar lembing”, ”lempar cakram” and “tolak peluru” respectively.

Originally the word “track” refered to the path (Jalur in Indonesian ) for running. Now it refers to sport held on the track itself.In U.S.A.,a track meet is what we call “ pertandingan olahraga lari “ here. Running events include the 100 metre dash (sprint), 1500 metres and the much longer event,the Marathon.

There is another term which is often used when we talk about athletics. That term is decathlon. The word is derived from the word “ deca “ and “athlon”. The former means “ten” like the word “ dasa” in “dasawarsa “. The latter means “contest”. The modern decathlon consists of : (1) 100 m sprint,(2) long jump ,(3) short-put (4) high junp,(5) 400 metres sprint,(6) 110 metres hurdles,(7) discus,(8) pole vault,(9) javelin,(10) 1,500 metres.

In the broad sense,athletic sport include cycling,team sports,and "Track and Field" events. Cycling is one event in the Olympic games, so, for example, are sports such as football(soccer), basketball, volley ball and hockey, track events and field events are those which involve the natural athletic motion of running, jumping, and throwing. These sports are what we call athletics in the narrow sense.

( taken from Bahasa Inggris 3A,senior High Scool-Depdikbud )