Athletics Legends
Track and field legends who rewrote human limits.
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All Athletics Athletes
Browse 19 of the greatest athletics players and personalities of all time.
Jamaican
Usain Bolt
Sprinter (100m, 200m)
The fastest human in recorded history — world record holder at 100m (9.58s) and 200m (19.19s) and ei…
American
Carl Lewis
Sprinter / Long Jumper
Nine-time Olympic gold medallist and winner of four consecutive long jump titles at the Games — wide…
American
Jesse Owens
Sprinter / Long Jumper
The hero of the 1936 Berlin Olympics — won four gold medals in front of Adolf Hitler, directly chall…
American
Florence Griffith-Joyner
Sprinter
Flo-Jo — the fastest woman in history whose world records of 10.49s (100m) and 21.34s (200m) have st…
Jamaican
Asafa Powell
Sprinter (100m)
Former world record holder at 100m who ran sub-9.90 seconds more times than any other athlete in his…
American
Allyson Felix
Sprinter (200m, 400m)
The most decorated US track and field Olympic athlete in history with eleven medals across five Game…
Ethiopian
Tirunesh Dibaba
Distance Runner (5000m, 10000m)
Ethiopia's triple Olympic champion and world record holder in the 10,000m — the most decorated femal…
Ethiopian
Kenenisa Bekele
Distance Runner
Ethiopia's most decorated male athlete — world record holder at 5,000m and 10,000m and marathon runn…
Kenyan
Eliud Kipchoge
Marathon Runner
The greatest marathon runner in history — sub-two-hour marathon achiever and two-time Olympic champi…
Dutch/Ethiopian
Sifan Hassan
Distance Runner
Triple Olympic medallist who ran the 1500m, 5000m and 10000m at the same Olympics — a feat of extrao…
American
Carl Lewis
Sprinter
Nine-time Olympic gold medallist — greatest track and field athlete in history.…
Jamaican
Elaine Thompson-Herah
Sprinter (100m, 200m)
Jamaica's double sprint champion who became the fastest woman in 33 years when she ran 10.54 seconds…
Swedish/American
Armand Duplantis
Pole Vaulter
Mondo — the greatest pole vaulter in history who has broken the world record nine times, currently s…
Ethiopian
Haile Gebrselassie
Distance Runner
The greatest distance runner of the 20th century — Haile Gebrselassie held 27 world records and won …
Kenyan
Moses Kiptanui
Steeplechase/Middle Distance
The first man to run 8 minutes for the 3,000m steeplechase — Moses Kiptanui's world records transfor…
Jamaican
Merlene Ottey
Sprinter
The Queen of the Track — the most prolific medallist in World Athletics Championship history, Merlen…
British
Jonathan Edwards
Triple Jumper
The greatest triple jumper in history — Jonathan Edwards' world record of 18.29m set at the 1995 Wor…
British
Daley Thompson
Decathlete
Britain's greatest ever athlete — two-time Olympic decathlon champion and world record holder who do…
British
Sebastian Coe
Middle Distance Runner
The most celebrated rivalry in British athletics — Seb Coe's duel with Steve Ovett produced four Oly…