<h2>Men's 400m hurdles</h2>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/athletes?competitionGroup=olympic-games&amp;countryCode=&amp;disciplineCode=HJ&amp;sexCode=M&amp;urlSlug=the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entries</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/timetable/bydiscipline/men/400-metres-hurdles" target="_blank" rel="noopener">timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/world-rankings/400mh/men?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;rankDate=2021-07-13&amp;limitByCountry=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/hurdles/400-metres-hurdles/outdoor/men/senior/2021?regionType=world&amp;timing=electronic&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2021 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/hurdles/400-metres-hurdles/outdoor/men/senior?regionType=world&amp;timing=electronic&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true&amp;firstDay=1900-01-01&amp;lastDay=2021-07-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/hurdles/400-metres-hurdles" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
In 2016, Karsten Warholm was just settling into his first full year as a 400m hurdles specialist. Rai Benjamin, at 18 and two years Warholm's junior, had just wrapped up his first year of NCAA competition. In Tokyo they'll co-star in one of the Games' most eagerly awaited showdowns as two of the three fastest 400m hurdlers of all-time.
Warholm has been on a steady but consistent rise since 2016, a season capped by a sixth-place finish at the European Championships and a trip to the Rio Olympic semifinals. It would be the last time he failed to reach a final. And the last major championships where he wouldn't leave as the winner.
The Norwegian notched a surprise win at the 2017 World Championships and retained it two years later in Doha in what was already then one of the key face-offs of that entire season. In the Qatari capital, Warholm held off Benjamin for the second time in two back-to-back meetings. The set-up came in Zurich when the pair met for the first time, a clash that would witness two men breaking 47 seconds in the same race for the first time, Warholm's sizzling 46.92 to Benjamin&rsquo;s 46.98. The Doha final wasn't as fast but the suspense was there, with Warholm finally pulling away in the waning stages.
Benjamin took it easy in 2020 but Warholm didn't, improving further to 46.87 in Stockholm, then the second fastest performance of all-time and just inches shy of the 46.78 world record Kevin Young set at the 1992 Olympic Games - almost four years before Warholm was born.
In 2021, Warholm went even faster in his very first race of the season, blazing to a 46.70 performance in Oslo on 1 July to finally eclipse Young's legendary performance. That was at least in part a reaction to Benjamin's stunning run at the US Olympic Trials just four days earlier, a 46.83 sizzler that moved him past Warholm, albeit briefly, into the No.2 spot all-time.&nbsp;
That too was a logical progression for Benjamin, who first made waves with a 47.02 run in 2018 before improving further to 46.98 in that Zurich clash the following year. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/2032b5db-5e0d-4287-b20b-8fc2960f9526.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="635" />
 In any other year, an athlete arriving with a 47.34 season's best &ndash; which followed performances of 47.68, 47.57 and 47.38 &ndash; would make them a solid gold medal favourite. Yet those four successive South American records by Alison Dos Santos only make him the strongest contender for bronze this year from a growing list of athletes contributing to the renaissance the event is currently enjoying. Then again, that kind of consistent improvement works perfectly for the 21-year-old Brazilian who is admirably working his way into the role of potential spoiler.
Abderrahman Samba is also very much a part of that renaissance. In 2018, the 25-year-old Qatari also joined the sub-47 club with a sensational 46.98 victory at the Paris leg of the Diamond League. A slight injury slowed him in 2019 but he regrouped enough to take bronze on home soil at the World Championships. He took 2020 off and will arrive in Tokyo with a 48.26 season's best.
Others expected to be in the medal chase include Kyron McMaster, the fourth-place finisher in Doha, who improved the British Virgin Islands national record to 47.50 this season. Kenneth Selmon, the runner-up at the US Trials with 48.08, and Jamaican Jaheel Hyde, who improved his lifetime best to 48.18 in Kingston last month, could also figure in the medal hunt.
Keep an eye on Yasmani Copello of Turkey as well, a finalist at the last three World Championships and the silver medallist in 2017, who arrives with a 48.18 season's best.
Bob Ramsak for World Athletics
&nbsp;
<h2>Women's 400m hurdles</h2>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/athletes?competitionGroup=olympic-games&amp;disciplineCode=400H&amp;sexCode=W&amp;urlSlug=the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entries</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/timetable/bydiscipline/women/400-metres-hurdles" target="_blank" rel="noopener">timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/world-rankings/400mh/women?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;rankDate=2021-07-13&amp;limitByCountry=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/hurdles/400-metres-hurdles/outdoor/women/senior/2021?regionType=world&amp;timing=electronic&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2021 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/hurdles/400-metres-hurdles/outdoor/women/senior?regionType=world&amp;timing=electronic&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true&amp;firstDay=1900-01-01&amp;lastDay=2021-07-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a> |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/hurdles/400-metres-hurdles" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
The predictions that Sydney McLaughlin would be the next great female star of athletics began when she was in high school.
She qualified for the US Olympic team in Rio aged just 16, reaching the semifinals of the 400m hurdles to underline her potential, and she has grown in stature each year since.
At 20, she pushed compatriot Dalilah Muhammad to a world record at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, while setting the second-fastest time in history (52.23), and now at 21, she will arrive at the Tokyo Olympic Games as the world record-holder.
Her world record run of 51.90 at the US Olympic Trials in Eugene last month was spectacular but not surprising. With McLaughlin this has always seemed merely a matter of time. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/60da4d943c5811c412dd3311.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="707" />
 She will be the gold medal favourite in Tokyo but this will be one of the highest quality events of the athletics competition, such is the talent that has gravitated to the &ldquo;quarter-sticks&rdquo; in recent years.
Muhammad, the reigning Olympic champion and 2019 female World Athlete of the Year after setting consecutive world records that year, has had a bumpier road to the Games. She contracted Covid-19 earlier this year which disrupted her preparation but still recorded a time of 52.42 at the US Trials, not far from her best of 52.16.
With another six weeks of training under her belt she is likely to be a more formidable foe in Tokyo.
Femke Bol forms the other part of a triumvirate of super talents in this event. The tall Dutchwoman, who is also 21, has made some big moves this year.
Undefeated over 400m hurdles in the Diamond League this season, Bol has reduced her personal best from 53.79 to 52.37 and now ranks fourth on the all-time list in this event.
These three have separated themselves from the pack in the Olympic field this year and are likely to decide the medals between them, particularly after Shamier Little (fifth on the all-time list with 52.39) did not survive the sudden-death US selection process.
Rio Olympic silver medallist&nbsp;Sara Slott Petersen&nbsp;of Denmark is another notable entrant but such has been the advance of the event over the last three years that she will need to step up to a new level to be in the medal hunt this time.&nbsp;
It&rsquo;s hardly a fearless prediction to suggest that this will be the fastest women&rsquo;s 400m hurdles race in history. All of the top three have already run faster this year than the Olympic record of 52.64 set by Melaine Walker in 2008 and it is likely that all will improve again in the cauldron of Olympic competition.
McLaughlin&rsquo;s rise might have been preordained but she may have to lift again to secure victory in Tokyo.
Nicole Jeffery for World Athletics

Expected highlights in the men's and women's 400m hurdles.

Tokyo Olympics preview: 400m hurdles

<h2>Women's 3000m steeplechase</h2>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/athletes?competitionGroup=olympic-games&amp;disciplineCode=3KSC&amp;sexCode=W&amp;urlSlug=the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entries</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/timetable/bydiscipline/women/3000-metres-steeplechase" target="_blank" rel="noopener">timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/world-rankings/3000msc/women?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;rankDate=2021-07-13&amp;limitByCountry=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/middle-long/3000-metres-steeplechase/outdoor/women/senior/2021?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2021 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/middle-long/3000-metres-steeplechase/outdoor/women/senior?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true&amp;firstDay=1900-01-01&amp;lastDay=2021-07-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/middlelong/3000-metres-steeplechase" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
The standout steeplechaser over the past few years hasn&rsquo;t quite been so dominant in 2021, throwing this event wide open going into Tokyo.
Beatrice Chepkoech broke the world record in 2018, clocking 8:44.32, and then went on to win the world title in 2019 with a championship record of 8:57.84, finishing almost five seconds ahead of the rest of the field.
She finished fourth at the 2016 Olympics and at the 2017 World Championships, despite losing precious time when missing one of the barriers. She rebounded well, and throughout 2018 and 2019 she won 17 of her 19 races. She now also owns half of history&rsquo;s 14 sub-nine-minute performances in the steeplechase.
But despite a promising start to her year, which included a world record of 14:43 over 5km and an indoor 3000m PB of 8:31.72 just three days later, the Kenyan hasn&rsquo;t won any of her steeplechase races in 2021. Her season&rsquo;s best of 9:04.94 was set when finishing a distant second at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Monaco.
Her compatriot Hyvin Kiyeng was the winner on that occasion in what turned out to be an eventful race. Kiyeng misjudged her remaining laps due to a human error with the lap counter, so she started her final kick one lap early. Upon realising her mistake after hearing the bell for the actual final lap, she somehow managed to muster enough energy to hold on to her lead, winning in a season&rsquo;s best of 9:03.82.
Kiyeng won the world title in 2015 and went on to take Olympic silver in 2016 and world bronze in 2017. She finished fourth on her season debut in Doha earlier this year but has gone on to win the rest of her races, beating Chepkoech on all three occasions.
And if she can beat a world record-holder and world champion after having messed up her finishing kick, as she did in Monaco, Kiyeng will be a big threat in Tokyo. She could even finally improve on the PB of 9:00.01 she set back in 2016.
The fastest of the entrants, somewhat surprisingly, is African Games champion Mekides Abebe, who set an Ethiopian record of 9:02.52 at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Doha. Her only other races this year have been against domestic opposition, but she won both the Ethiopian Championships in Addis Ababa and the Ethiopian Olympic Trials in Hengelo.
Despite being just 19 years of age, Abebe is actually the oldest of Ethiopia&rsquo;s steeplechase representatives. She&rsquo;ll be joined in Tokyo by Lomi Muleta, who set a PB of 9:14.03 this year, and Zerfe Wondemagegn, who set a national U20 record of 9:16.95 in Hengelo. All three women represented Ethiopia at the 2019 World Championships, so, despite their young age, they will have already gained some valuable experience ahead of making their Olympic debut.
US champion Emma Coburn will once again be a medal contender. Olympic bronze medallist in 2016, world champion in 2017 and world silver medallist in 2019, Coburn is always in the mix at major events. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/4d8d9286-35f1-44ad-950b-04d6e5aa9861.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="651" />
 She fell at the last water jump in her final pre-Olympic race at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Monaco, eventually finishing fourth in 9:09.02. She had watched Kiyeng&rsquo;s blunder from afar and had started to reel in the Kenyan, though there&rsquo;s also no guarantee Coburn would have won on that occasion had she stayed on her feet. Regardless, assuming she makes no such mistake in Tokyo, Coburn will be in the medal hunt.
Gesa-Felicitas Krause is another strong championship performer. The German won European golds in 2016 and 2018, sandwiched between world bronze medals in 2015 and 2019. She heads to Tokyo with a season&rsquo;s best of 9:09.13, though it&rsquo;s highly likely she&rsquo;ll improve on that; in all but one of her 10 seasons between 2010 and 2019, Krause&rsquo;s fastest times of each year were set in championship finals.
Bahrain&rsquo;s Winfred Yavi just missed out on the medals at the World Championships in Doha, but gained some form of redemption when she returned to the Qatari capital for the Wanda Diamond League meeting earlier this year as she came away with a PB of 9:02.64, beating Kiyeng, Coburn and Krause.
Others who could feature in the final include North American record-holder and 2017 world silver medallist Courtney Frerichs, Slovenian record-holder Marusa Mismas-Zrimsek, 2014 Commonwealth champion Purity Kirui, Oceanian record-holder Genevieve Gregson of Australia, Chinese record-holder Zhang Xinyan and Ugandan record-holder Peruth Chemutai.
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics
&nbsp;
<h2>Men's 3000m steeplechase</h2>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/athletes?competitionGroup=olympic-games&amp;countryCode=&amp;disciplineCode=3KSC&amp;sexCode=M&amp;urlSlug=the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entries</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/timetable/bydiscipline/men/3000-metres-steeplechase" target="_blank" rel="noopener">timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/world-rankings/3000msc/men?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;rankDate=2021-07-13&amp;limitByCountry=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/middle-long/3000-metres-steeplechase/outdoor/men/senior/2021?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2021 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/middle-long/3000-metres-steeplechase/outdoor/men/senior?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true&amp;firstDay=1900-01-01&amp;lastDay=2021-07-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/middlelong/3000-metres-steeplechase" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
By any measure, the men's 3000m steeplechase has been Kenya's event. Athletes from the east African athletics powerhouse have captured the discipline at all but two Olympic Games since 1968 - and those were the two the nation boycotted. But for the first time in recent memory its squad will be arriving at an Olympic Games without a reigning world or Olympic champion.
Conseslus Kipruto, the champion in Rio five years ago and winner at the past two World Championships, did not finish his race at the Kenyan Trials last month, and won't be in Tokyo to defend his title. That passes the pressure of the nation on to the lean shoulders of Leonard Bett, Banjamin Kigen and Abraham Kibiwott.
Hopes are high for Bett, the 2017 world U18 champion, 2018 African champion and 2019 World Championships finalist, who took the top honours at the brutally competitive Kenyan Olympic Trials on 19 June, clocking 8:17.26 in the altitude of Nairobi. He's raced sparingly this season, however, so his true form won't be revealed until opening round action gets under way on Friday 30 July. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/35cc7202-029b-4e03-bebd-ff1d2962e2fa.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="641" />
 Like Bett, Kibiwott, 25, was also a finalist at the 2019 World Championships where he finished seventh, so he too also brings major competition experience to the Japanese capital. The 25-year-old has an 8:05.72 career best from 2019 and has five sub-8:10 performances to his credit. The most recent came in Monaco on 9 July where he finished second in 8:07.81.
Kigen, 28, was sixth at the last World Championships and raced to victory at the African Games earlier that year, and with several Wanda Diamond League and World Athletics Continental Tour victories to his credit, is also a proven commodity on the international stage. But with an 8:15.09 season's best, he hasn't been particularly fast this season, but that performance came at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Monaco where the official rang the bell one lap early, causing Kigen and a couple of other runners to launch their finishing kick with two laps to go. Kigen had been in the lead up until the point the athletes realised there was another lap to go.
To keep their streak alive, the Kenyan trio will have to get past a short list of proven stars who will arrive as the favourites.
Moroccan Soufiane El Bakkali, 25, battled to silver and bronze, respectively, at the last two World Championships, has a dozen sub-8:10 performances to his name and a 7:58.15 career best, the fastest among the Tokyo entrants. He's raced sparingly but well this season, winning at the Golden Gala in Florence in 8:08.54 and perhaps more notably, clocking 3:31.95 in the Doha Diamond League 1500m, clipping 1.5 seconds from his previous lifetime best.
Lamecha Girma, meanwhile, burst on to the world stage with a stunning performance at the 2019 World Championships, where the then 18-year-old fiercely battled Kipruto to the line, only to be beaten to gold by a scant 0.01. After a somewhat low-key 2020, Girma has raced just once outdoors this year but made it count, winning in Monaco on 9 July in 8:07.75, the fastest in the world in 2021.
Getnet Wale, the 2019 Diamond League champion and fourth-place finisher at the World Championships later that year, leads a strong Ethiopian squad. The 21-year-old has an 8:09.47 season's best from his victory in Ostrava and has also improved his 5000m career best to 12:53.28. He has also been selected for the 5000m, where he stands a strong chance of taking a medal.
Bikila Tadese Takele, who will turn 19 one day after the Olympic final, won the Ethiopian Trial race in Hengelo with a PB of 8:09.37 and went on to finish second at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Florence.
World silver medallist Lamecha Girma delayed the start to his outdoor season and missed the Ethiopian Trials. He is only named as a reserve on the team.
Behind them, the form chart is less certain. France comes armed with Djilali Bedrani (8:11.17 SB) and Mehdi Belhadj (8:12.43 SB, PB), who finished third and fourth in the Monaco race. Bedrani finished fifth at the 2019 World Championships in 8:05.23, still his lifetime best, so also looks to be a factor.
Hillary Bor, the US Trials champion, was seventh in Rio and eighth at the last World Championships, and could also be in medal contention.
Meanwhile, local hopes lie with Ryuji Miura, the 19-year-old who twice broke the national record this year, first with 8:17.46 in Tokyo in May and again to 8:15.99 to win the national title in Osaka one month ago.
Bob Ramsak for World Athletics

Expected highlights in the women's and men's 3000m steeplechase.

Tokyo Olympics preview: 3000m steeplechase

The wait is almost over and with all eyes on Tokyo's Olympic Stadium, 69 athletes from the sport of athletics will be among the flag bearers when the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 gets under way on Friday (23).
For the first time, each nation can be represented by two flag bearers, with 38 women and 31 men leading their nations before going on to compete in athletics at the Games.
A number of these athletes could also make history for their country when athletics action begins on 30 July and here are some of the stars to watch out for.&nbsp; 
<h3>Hugues Fabrice Zango, triple jump - Burkina Faso&nbsp;🇧🇫</h3>
Zango became the first athlete from his nation to win a World Championships medal thanks to his third place in Doha and now he could become the first person from Burkina Faso to win an Olympic medal in any sport. The 27-year-old broke the world indoor triple jump record of 18.07m in Aubiere in January and has also leapt a PB of 17.82m outdoors this year. 
<h3>Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, 100m, 200m and 4x100m - Jamaica 🇯🇲</h3>
Sprint star Fraser-Pryce will be looking to regain the 100m title after her wins in 2008 and 2012 and add further medals to a collection which also includes two 4x100m silvers, a 200m silver and a 200m bronze. The 10.63 she ran in Kingston in June puts her second on the world 100m all-time list. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/b641836f-edcd-4e64-a826-ea47d543c77d.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="671" /> 
<h3>Joseph Fahnbulleh, 200m - Liberia&nbsp;🇱🇷</h3>
No athlete from Liberia has ever finished in the top eight in their event at the Olympics, let alone won a medal, and sprinter Fahnbulleh will be looking to change that when he takes to the track for the 200m. The 19-year-old ran a PB of 19.91 to win the NCAA title in June. 
<h3>Thea LaFond, triple jump - Dominica 🇩🇲</h3>
Dominica hasn&rsquo;t yet won a medal in any Olympic sport but if she progresses beyond the qualifying round then triple jumper LaFond &ndash; who holds the national records of 14.54m indoors and 14.38m outdoors &ndash; will make further history for her nation, as no athlete from Dominica has ever competed in an Olympic final. 
<h3>Alex Rose, discus - Samoa 🇼🇸</h3>
Rose competed at the Rio Olympics in 2016, placing 29th in discus qualifying, but he&rsquo;s keen to become the first Samoan athlete ever to reach an Olympic final. He improved his national record to 67.48m in May.&nbsp; 
<h2>Athletics flag bearers at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games</h2>
Afghanistan (AFG) - Kimia Yousofi (women&rsquo;s 100m) Albania (ALB) - Luiza Gega (women&rsquo;s 3000m steeplechase) Andorra (AND) - Pol Moya (men&rsquo;s 800m) Antigua and Barbuda (ANT) - Cejhae Greene (men&rsquo;s 100m) Bahamas (BAH) - Donald Thomas (men&rsquo;s high jump) Belize (BIZ) - Samantha Dirks (women&rsquo;s 400m) and Shaun Gill (men&rsquo;s 100m) Belgium (BEL) - Nafissatou Thiam (heptathlon)&nbsp; Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) - Amel Tuka (men&rsquo;s 800m) Botswana (BOT) - Amantle Montsho (women&rsquo;s 400m) Burkina Faso (BUR) - Hugues Fabrice Zango (men&rsquo;s triple jump) British Virgin Islands (IVB) - Kyron McMaster (men&rsquo;s 400m hurdles) Cambodia (CAM) - Sokong Pen (men&rsquo;s 100m) Cape Verde (CPV) - Jordin Andrade (men&rsquo;s 400m hurdles) Central African Republic (CAF) - Francky Mbotto (men&rsquo;s 800m) Colombia&nbsp;(COL) - Caterine Ibarguen (women&rsquo;s triple jump) Comoros (COM) - Amed Elna (women&rsquo;s 100m) and Fadane Hamadi (men&rsquo;s 110m hurdles) Congo (CGO) - Natacha Ngoye Akamabi (women&rsquo;s 100m) Costa Rica (CRC) - Andrea Vargas (100m hurdles) Croatia (CRO) - Sandra Perkovic (women&rsquo;s discus) Cuba (CUB) - Yaime Perez (women&rsquo;s discus) Cyprus (CYP) - Milan Trajkovic (110m hurdles) Denmark (DEN) - Sara Peterson (women&rsquo;s 400m hurdles) Dominica (DMA) - Thea Lafond (women&rsquo;s triple jump) and Dennick Luke (men&rsquo;s 800m) Equatorial Guinea (GEQ) - Alba Mbo Nchama (women&rsquo;s 100m) and Benjamin Enzema (men&rsquo;s 1500m) Eritrea (ERI) - Nazret Weldu (women&rsquo;s marathon) Gambia (GAM) - Gina Bass (women&rsquo;s 100m and 200m) and Ebrima Camara (men&rsquo;s 100m) Ghana (GHA) - Nadia Eke (women&rsquo;s triple jump) Guam (GUM) - Regine Kate Tugade (women&rsquo;s 100m) Israel (ISR) - Hanna Minenko (women&rsquo;s triple jump) Ivory Coast (CIV) - Marie-Josee Ta Lou (women&rsquo;s 100m and 200m) Jamaica (JAM) - Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (women's 100m, 200m and 4x100m) Kazakhstan (KAZ) - Olga Rypakova (women&rsquo;s triple jump) Lao People's Democratic Republic (LAO) - Silina Pha Aphay (women&rsquo;s 100m) Liberia (LBR) - Ebony Morrison (women&rsquo;s 100m hurdles) and Joseph Fahnbulleh (men&rsquo;s 200m) Mauritania (MTN) - Houleye Ba (women&rsquo;s 100m) and Abidine Abidine (men&rsquo;s 5000m) Micronesia (FSM) - Scott James Fiti (men&rsquo;s 100m) Nauru (NRU) - Jonah Harris (men&rsquo;s 100m) Netherlands (NED) - Churandy Martina (men&rsquo;s 4x100m) Palau (PLW) - Adrian Justin Jimena Ililau (men&rsquo;s 100m) Panama (PAN) - Alonso Edward (men&rsquo;s 200m) Portugal (POR) - Nelson Evora (men&rsquo;s triple jump) Refugee Olympic Team (EOR)&nbsp;- Tachlowini Gabriyesos (marathon) Rwanda (RWA) - John Hakizimana (men&rsquo;s marathon) Saint Kitts and Nevis (SKN) - Amya Clarke (women&rsquo;s 100m) and Jason Rogers (men&rsquo;s 100m) Saint Lucia (LCA) - Levern Spencer (women&rsquo;s high jump) Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (VIN) - Shafiqua Maloney (women&rsquo;s 800m) Samoa (SAM) - Alex Rose (men&rsquo;s discus) Sao Tome and Principe (STP) - D'Jamila Tavares (women&rsquo;s 800m) Saudi Arabia (KSA) -&nbsp;Yasmeen Al Dabbagh (women's 100m) Sierra Leone (SLE) - Maggie Barrie (women&rsquo;s 100m) Solomon Islands (SOL) - Sharon Firisua (women&rsquo;s marathon) Somalia (SOM) - Ali Idow Hassan (men&rsquo;s 1500m) South Sudan (SSD) - Lucia Moris (women&rsquo;s 200m) and Abraham Guem (men&rsquo;s 1500m) Switzerland (SUI) - Mujinga Kambundji (women's 100m, 200m and 4x100m) Timor Leste (TLS) - Felisberto de Deus (men&rsquo;s 1500m) Trinidad and Tobago (TTO) - Kelly-Ann Baptiste (women&rsquo;s 100m and 4x100m) Tuvalu (TUV) - Matie Stanley (women&rsquo;s 100m) and Karalo Hepoiteloto Maibuca (men&rsquo;s 100m) Uruguay (URU) - Deborah Rodriguez (women&rsquo;s 800m) Vietnam (VIE) - Thi Lan Quach (women&rsquo;s 400m hurdles) List may be subject to change

The wait is almost over and with all eyes on Tokyo's Olympic Stadium, 69 athletes from the sport of athletics will be among the flag bearers when the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 gets under way on Friday (23).

Athletics flag bearers help to light up Olympic Opening Ceremony in Tokyo

<h2>Men's high jump</h2>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/athletes?competitionGroup=olympic-games&amp;countryCode=&amp;disciplineCode=HJ&amp;sexCode=M&amp;urlSlug=the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entries</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/timetable/bydiscipline/men/high-jump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/world-rankings/high-jump/men?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;rankDate=2021-07-13&amp;limitByCountry=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/jumps/high-jump/outdoor/men/senior/2021?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2021 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/jumps/high-jump/outdoor/men/senior?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true&amp;firstDay=1900-01-01&amp;lastDay=2021-07-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/jumps/high-jump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
Mutaz Barshim's Olympic journey seems to have a logical progression. He hopes so, at least.
Bronze in London (later upgraded to silver) in 2012. Then silver in Rio in 2016. Back-to-back world titles followed in 2017 and 2019, the latter in front of a vociferous home crowd in Doha that capped a marvelous comeback from career-threatening injury. Gold is the only place to go for the 30-year-old, who is widely considered the best high jumper of the past decade, if not of his generation.
Barshim has scaled 2.40m 11 times since 2013 &ndash; only world record holder Javier Sotomayor, with 17, has more successful clearances at that formidable barrier &ndash; and with a 2.43m personal best, is the second-highest jumper of all time.
But Barshim hasn't jumped that high since a 2.40m clearance at the Gyulai Memorial in Szekesfehervar, Hungary, on 2 July 2018. He later had the bar raised to a would-be world record of 2.46m and came tantalisingly close on his first try, grazing the bar slightly on his way up before it fell, almost with hesitation, softly to the ground. He would later characterise it as one of his best jumps ever. A decent second try followed before he landed clutching his ankle after this third. The verdict? Ruptured ligaments that would end his season and cast doubt on a successful world title defence.
When he returned to action in 2019, he competed only three times prior to the World Championships, producing modest results: a pair of back-to-back 2.27m clearances and a 2.20m in Zurich &ndash; just one month before Doha. Back home and on centre stage, he performed admirably, staying alive with a third attempt clearance at 2.33m before taking command of the competition with first attempt successes at 2.35m and 2.37m.
Similarly, Barshim has competed just four times this season, but better than he did in his Doha lead-in, topping 2.30m on three occasions. Assuming a similar approach, Barshim's competitive ferocity will be difficult to beat.
We can expect the season's top jumpers, authorised neutral athlete Ilya Ivanyuk and Maksim Nedasekau of Belarus, to put on maximum pressure. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/eeab0d57-f182-49a2-ace9-64f8e92ab192.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="633" />
 Ivanyuk topped a then-PB of 2.35m in Doha to take surprise bronze. This year he kicked off his outdoor season with a 2.37m PB on 17 May and followed up with Wanda Diamond League victories in Doha and Rome. His only off night came in his last competition, where he topped just 2.25m in Monaco on an evening when most jumpers seemed to struggle.
Nedasekau, who finished fourth in Doha at just 21, is a much-improved jumper two years later. He had a particularly strong indoor season, capped by a 2.37m national indoor record to take the European indoor title. He equalled that mark outdoors in Szekesfehervar on 6 July, another national record.
Rising US star JuVaughn Harrison will also attract considerable attention, given the 22-year-old&rsquo;s penchant for high level high jump/long jump double victories in 2021. The Alabama native won both titles at the Southeastern Conference indoor championships, the NCAA indoor and outdoor championships and, incredibly, at the US Olympic Trials last month where he topped 2.33m in the high jump and sailed a lifetime best of 8.47m in the long jump. That made him the first US athlete to qualify for both events since the legendary Jim Thorpe in 1912. His 2.36m PB leap at the SEC championships has him third on the world list at the moment, so, Harrison figures, why not continue his extraordinary double duty in Tokyo?
His busy four-day schedule kicks off with high jump qualifying on Friday morning (30) then continues with long jump qualifying on Saturday evening (31) followed by the high jump final on Sunday night (1) and long jump final on Monday morning, 15 hours and 10 minutes later.
Others to watch include authorised neutral athlete Mikhail Akimenko, the Doha silver medallist who has topped 2.33m twice this season and beat a strong field in Monaco on 9 July.
Six other men have topped 2.33m in 2021, including Australian Brandon Starc, the Oceania record holder at 2.36m, and another Doha finalist, Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi, the 2016 world indoor champion who continues to battle back from injury, plus Swiss record-holder Loic Gasch and Canada's Django Lovett, the 2018 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist.
Bob Ramsak for World Athletics
&nbsp;
<h2>Women's high jump</h2>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/athletes?competitionGroup=olympic-games&amp;disciplineCode=HJ&amp;sexCode=W&amp;urlSlug=the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entries</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/timetable/bydiscipline/women/high-jump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/world-rankings/high-jump/women?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;rankDate=2021-07-13&amp;limitByCountry=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/jumps/high-jump/outdoor/women/senior/2021?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2021 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/jumps/high-jump/outdoor/women/senior?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true&amp;firstDay=1900-01-01&amp;lastDay=2021-07-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a> |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/jumps/high-jump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
With three consecutive world titles to her credit, Mariya Lasitskene is primed to challenge for her first Olympic gold &ndash; but a Ukrainian teenage sensation could stand in her way.
Competing as an&nbsp;authorised neutral athlete, Lasitskene will get her first chance to shine on the Olympic stage. The 28-year-old, also a two-time world indoor champion, is tied for fifth on the all-time list with a jump of 2.06m in 2017 &ndash; just three centimetres off the world record set by Bulgaria&rsquo;s Stefka Kostadinova in 1987.
Lasitskene, who won the 2019 world title in Doha by clearing 2.04m, has not produced a stellar season coming into the Games. After failing to clear 2 metres in six meets, she finally reached 2.00m on 14 July in Finland. That equalled only the fourth-best jump this year. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/7da4872e-264f-42d2-88e3-317c4ff5187c.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="665" />
 Based on recent form, the favourite shapes up as 19-year-old rising star Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine, who has gone from strength to strength since taking the silver medal in Doha behind Lasitskene.
Mahuchikh recorded the best indoor jump in nine years in February, clearing 2.06m in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia, and also claimed the European indoor and U23 titles this year.
Laying down a marker for Tokyo, Mahuchikh jumped a world-leading 2.03m in Stockholm on 4 July to cement her status as the woman to beat.
The group of top contenders also includes US national champion and 2019 world bronze medallist Vashti Cunningham, who has the world&rsquo;s second-best outdoor jump this year of 2.02m. Coached by her father and former NFL quarterback Randall Cunningham, she won the US Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon, with a jump of 1.96m.
A former world indoor champion, Cunningham was only 18 when she competed in her first Olympics in Rio and finished 13th. She has steadily improved and expects to challenge for gold this time.
Australia&rsquo;s Nicola McDermott set an Oceania record by clearing 2.01m in Stockholm and should be a factor.
Ukraine&rsquo;s Yuliya Levchenko, silver medallist at the 2012 Olympics and 2017 World Championships and fourth-place finisher in Doha, will be hoping to raise her game after managing a best jump of only 1.94m this year.
Steve Wilson for World Athletics

Expected highlights in the men's and women's high jump.

Tokyo Olympics preview: high jump

<h2>Women's pole vault</h2>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/athletes?competitionGroup=olympic-games&amp;disciplineCode=PV&amp;sexCode=W&amp;urlSlug=the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entries</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/timetable/bydiscipline/women/pole-vault" target="_blank" rel="noopener">timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/world-rankings/pole-vault/women?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;rankDate=2021-07-13&amp;limitByCountry=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/jumps/pole-vault/outdoor/women/senior/2021?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2021 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/jumps/pole-vault/outdoor/women/senior?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true&amp;firstDay=1900-01-01&amp;lastDay=2021-07-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/jumps/pole-vault" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
A few weeks before her world title win in Doha in 2019, Anzhelika Sidorova had been in tears over her defeat in the Diamond League final. That loss helped to fuel her to a first global outdoor victory, however, and now the authorised neutral athlete is among the key contenders going for gold again.
In a world final featuring great depth, Sidorova claimed top spot thanks to her third-time PB clearance of 4.95m. This time she heads into global competition with a season&rsquo;s best of 4.91m &ndash; a height which puts her second on the world list &ndash; from her win at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Florence, while she has also cleared 4.80m on two other occasions. It was the disappointment of finishing seventh with a best of 4.64m at her season opener in Doha in May which left her determined to &ldquo;show I could jump much higher&rdquo;.
That 2019 Diamond League title win had been claimed by defending Olympic champion Katerina Stefanidi, who also won world gold in 2017 but had to settle for third two years later in Doha. After that competition she struggled with an undiagnosed heel problem which kept her out of action in 2020, and while she is not among this year&rsquo;s three 4.90m-plus athletes, the Greek record-holder has so far returned to a best of 4.80m which she achieved to finish third at the Diamond League in Rome. Her major championships experience will be invaluable, too, as she forms part of a field filled with quality.
Like in the 2019 world final, which featured a record 17 athletes after they all managed the automatic qualifying height of 4.60m, this year&rsquo;s battle for Olympic glory could go one of many ways.
Joining Sidorova in having soared over 4.90m this summer are the USA&rsquo;s world leader Katie Nageotte and British record-holder Holly Bradshaw. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/cfbd0ecb-ec7f-4fe7-951c-450dfe3847a1.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="633" />
 Nageotte may have less major championships experience &ndash; she made her debut at the 2018 World Indoor Championships where she finished fifth &ndash; but the 29-year-old has gone on to become one of the world&rsquo;s most consistent vaulters. This year she has been over 4.90m in four competitions, clearing 4.93m in May and then 4.94m during an indoor meeting in June, before adding another centimetre to that mark to win the US title. The world&rsquo;s best do not shy away from competing against each other, either, so she has experience of taking on the best, and winning, including at the Diamond League meetings in Doha and Monaco this year.
She&rsquo;s also well aware of what it may take to win in Tokyo.
&ldquo;I want to bring some hardware home for Team USA,&rdquo; she said after her win at the US trials. &ldquo;I think it may take five metres to win a medal and that's how I'm going to train.&rdquo;
The one athlete in the field who so far has experience of clearing a bar five metres high is Nageotte&rsquo;s US teammate Sandi Morris. Second on the world outdoor all-time list with her 5.00m from 2016, the 2018 world indoor champion could only finish third at the US trials but did enough to secure her spot on a second Olympic team, where she will look to build on the silver she secured in Rio, plus her runner-up finishes at the last two editions of the World Athletics Championships. Morris, who has cleared 4.88m indoors this year and 4.84m outdoors, also heads to Tokyo off the back of a win at the Diamond League in Gateshead, where she cleared 4.76m.
Bradshaw was second on that occasion, a couple of weeks after her 4.90m national record at the British Championships, and the 2012 world indoor bronze medallist also has performances of 4.85m indoors and 4.82m outdoors to back that up this year.
Nina Kennedy suffered a series of injuries in 2019 but her comeback includes a 4.82m Australian record in March, while Morgann LeLeux joins Nageotte and Morris on the US team after her second place at the trials. Slovenia's Tina Sutej and Iryna Zhuk of Belarus have both cleared 4.74m this summer.
Cuba&rsquo;s 2015 world champion Yarisley Silva competes at her fourth Olympic Games, nine years after securing silver in London.
Jess Whittington for World Athletics
&nbsp;
<h2>Men's pole vault</h2>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/athletes?competitionGroup=olympic-games&amp;countryCode=&amp;disciplineCode=PV&amp;sexCode=M&amp;urlSlug=the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entries</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/timetable/bydiscipline/men/pole-vault" target="_blank" rel="noopener">timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/world-rankings/pole-vault/men?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;rankDate=2021-07-13&amp;limitByCountry=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/jumps/pole-vault/outdoor/men/senior/2021?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2021 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/jumps/pole-vault/outdoor/men/senior?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true&amp;firstDay=1900-01-01&amp;lastDay=2021-07-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/jumps/pole-vault" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
Since the last World Athletics Championships in Doha the men&rsquo;s pole vault has been all about Mondo.
Armand &ldquo;Mondo&rdquo; Duplantis has carried all before him since a silver medal finish behind world champion Sam Kendricks aged 19 in 2019, graduating from wunderkind to world record-holder in the blink of an eye.
Duplantis &ndash; who has been pole vaulting virtually since he could run, under the influence of his father, former US pole vaulter Greg Duplantis &ndash; seized the global spotlight in early 2020 when he twice bettered the established world record of 6.16m with extraordinary clearances of 6.17m in Torun, Poland, and 6.18m in Glasgow, UK, in consecutive weeks in February on the World Indoor Tour.
He was soaring just as the Covid-19 pandemic was beginning to plunge the world into a series of lockdowns which prevented many athletes from training as usual for months, including Duplantis who developed a mean golf game during the break.
However, when he had the opportunity to return to training he quickly found his stride again and achieved a world best clearance of 6.15m at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Rome in September to establish himself as the best pole vaulter in history in all conditions.
He has taken a more measured approach to start this Olympic year, while still clearing 6.10m indoors in February and again outdoors at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting in Hengelo in June, as he times his run for his first Olympic Games.
He also topped six metres in his last two competitions before the Olympics, a level of consistency above the still imposing six-metre barrier that none of his rivals can match.
The&nbsp;male World Athlete of the Year in 2020, he put together a perfect season of 16 consecutive wins last year and has won 11 of 12 competition this year, but that one loss &ndash; to Kendricks in horrid wet and windy conditions at the Diamond League meeting in Gateshead in May &ndash; will give his rivals hope that he is not invincible.
After all, Brazil&rsquo;s Thiago Braz pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the Rio Olympics five years ago, when he defeated then world record-holder Renaud Lavillenie to claim the gold medal with a personal best clearance of 6.03m. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/5d0feb1a-ae84-4383-a113-d27cc1e98096.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="633" />
 Duplantis is the only man over six metres this year but there will be five men in the field who have reached that milestone outdoors at some stage in their careers, including Kendricks (6.06m), Lavillenie (6.05m) and Poland&rsquo;s Piotr Lisek (6.02m).
The elder statesman Lavillenie, Kendricks and fellow US vaulter Chris Nilsen have each cleared 5.92m, with Ernest Obiena (5.87m) bidding to become the first track and field athlete from the Philippines to win an Olympic medal for 85 years.
In all, there have been 20 men over 5.80m this year &ndash; including defending champion Braz &ndash; which points to the exceptional depth in the event.
However, 34-year-old Lavillenie sprained his ankle just two weeks ago when he landed on a mat awkwardly as he prepared for a competition in France and will need all of his experience to be ready to compete near his best in Tokyo.
There is a famously collegiate spirit between the world&rsquo;s best pole vaulters &ndash; Duplantis held an umbrella over Kendricks to protect him from the rain as he prepared to defeat the US-born Swede in Gateshead. Meanwhile, Lavillenie treats Duplantis like he is his younger brother and coached him on-field as he set the outdoor best of 6.15m in Rome last year.
But once they hit the runway they are the fiercest of competitors, which makes for a reliably fascinating contest, and Tokyo should be no different.
Nicole Jeffery for World Athletics

Expected highlights in the women's and men's pole vault.

Tokyo Olympics preview: pole vault

<h3 style="text-align: center;">Sam Kendricks (USA)</h3>
Two-time world pole vault champion, world indoor silver medallist and Olympic bronze medallist
&nbsp;
<hr />
&nbsp;
Before I started pole vaulting I was a distance runner. My father used to wake my twin brother and I to go for a run each morning &ndash; giving me the gift of discipline and physical courage.
My journey into pole vaulting started by pure chance. I was 12 years old when my home state of Mississippi added girl's pole vault to the high jump programme. The event was introduced for girls because a judge&rsquo;s daughter from my home town successfully, and for good reason, got the right for girl's pole vault. It was my good fortune that my father was a track coach and that&rsquo;s how I started pole vaulting &ndash; with the girls who, initially, were far better than me!
I was short, small and skinny back then but I think my father saw in me what we in the South call a bit of "want to".&nbsp;
My father is an ex-military officer and a great problem solver and besides giving me the gift of discipline and personal courage he also gave me the gift of time and worked with me for years and years on improving my craft.
Over time I got steadily better. I trained with the girls and I grew past them. That has been the meme of my career. I&rsquo;ve gradually grown into the event and it has only been in the past few years do I feel I have truly mastered pole vaulting.
In some ways I&rsquo;m the very antithesis of the typical thrill-seeking pole vaulter. Yet it was watching the video of the great pole vaulters of the past &ndash; men like Nick Hysong and Steve Hooker among others &ndash; that gave me a vigour for the event.
I call them the "wild men" of the event &ndash; courageous vaulters, who had a mature yet wild heart. Yet each of these vaulters were all quite different. Not one fitted the mould of what you would expect a vaulter to be.
I had to find my own way and imitated my now good friend Jeff Hartwig (a 6.03m vaulter and joint eighth on the all-time list) &ndash; a true professional of the sport. He had a long and prestigious career and was perhaps the most internationally respected vaulter never to win a World Championship or Olympic title.
I knew I never had the skill or the potential to set big records.&nbsp; I&rsquo;m no Sergey Bubka &ndash; I know it in my bones and my heart and it is senseless to lie to myself. However, I knew if I could fill in the gaps then I could carve out a space to enjoy this lifestyle to be a professional.
For me, I needed to adopt a very consistent, professional mindset to vaulting. I&rsquo;m not going to jump as big as Mondo Duplantis, but I am the vaulter that is hard to beat.
Pole vault is very niche. To be able to survive on the circuit you need to bring a number of other skills to the table such as people skills, athletics knowledge &ndash; a full spectrum of responsibility. It helps breed maturity.&nbsp;
One of the coolest elements to vaulting is when you arrive at a meeting with your poles &ndash; it is instantly recognisable that we are vaulters. In many ways we are the travelling circus of track and field and there is a unity which comes from the strangeness and nuances of the event.
The pole vault can seems a little scary to many people but I believe it is thrilling because you have to balance risk versus reward and, for all the factors I&rsquo;ve explained, I think it helps mature you as a person.
Steve Landells for World Athletics

The pole vault can seems a little scary to many people but I believe it is thrilling because you have to balance risk versus reward.

Sam Kendricks: why I vault

<h2>Men's long jump</h2>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/athletes?competitionGroup=olympic-games&amp;countryCode=&amp;disciplineCode=LJ&amp;sexCode=M&amp;urlSlug=the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entries</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/timetable/bydiscipline/men/long-jump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/world-rankings/long-jump/men?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;rankDate=2021-07-13&amp;limitByCountry=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/jumps/long-jump/outdoor/men/senior/2021?regionType=world&amp;windReading=regular&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2021 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/jumps/long-jump/outdoor/men/senior?regionType=world&amp;windReading=regular&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true&amp;firstDay=1900-01-01&amp;lastDay=2021-07-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/jumps/long-jump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
Based on 2021 form, the men's long jump looks to be one of the most wide open competitions on the Tokyo athletics programme. It will also be among the most watched, given the unique ambitions that have propelled US jumping sensation JuVaughn Harrison on to centre stage.
The 22-year-old has made a habit of successfully doubling in the high jump and long jump this year, winning both titles at the Southeastern Conference indoor championships, the NCAA indoor and outdoor championships and, incredibly, at the US Olympic Trials last month where he topped 2.33m in the high jump and sailed a lifetime best of 8.47m in the long jump. That made him the first US athlete to qualify for both events since the legendary Jim Thorpe in 1912.
So, Harrison figures, why stop there?
He'll kick off a busy four days with high jump qualifying on Friday morning (30), will return to action in the long jump qualifying on Saturday evening (31), back again for the high jump final on Sunday night (1) before concluding with the long jump final 15 hours and 10 minutes later on Monday morning (2).
His medal prospects in both events are good, but especially in the long jump where his winning mark from the US Trials is the second farthest of the year. Harrison also has an 8.44m leap from earlier in the season to back that up along with an 8.45m leap indoors which catapulted him into the No.8 spot indoors all-time. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/60f941306c17c18127289d1d.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="633" />
 The only man to jump farther thus far this season is Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece, the reigning European champion who sailed 8.60m at a domestic competition in late May. That leap smashed his previous PB set last year by 28 centimetres. Indoors he managed an 8.35m leap, just three centimetres shy of his lifetime best, to successfully defend his European indoor crown. He jumped 8.24m to win in Monaco on 9 July, his final pre-Tokyo competition.
We can also expect Cuban star Juan Miguel Echevarria in the chase. The 22-year-old has electrified the event since his breakout in 2018 when he won the world indoor title and flew to a wind-aided 8.83m leap in Stockholm which forced organisers to make the landing pit longer for the 2019 edition. He arrived in Doha as the favourite for the world title that year and responded to the pressure reasonably well, taking bronze in a fiercely fought competition.
That title went to rising Jamaican star Tajay Gayle who unleashed an 8.69m leap in the fourth round to steal the victory, smashing his PB by 37 centimetres in the process. He hasn't jumped nearly as far in 2021 (8.29m SB) but has managed victories in Stockholm (8.55m/+2.3m/s) and at the Jamaican championships.
A sixth place finish at the notoriously difficult US trials means that reigning Olympic champion and 2019 world silver medallist Jeffery Henderson won't be defending his title, but Harrison will be joined by Marquis Dendy (8.35m SB, 8.42m PB), the 2016 world indoor champion, and Steffin McCarter (8.26m SB, PB), who should both figure in the medal hunt.
Echevarria will be joined by Maykel Mass&oacute;, also 22, a former world U18 and U20 champion who improved to 8.39m this year. Gayle, meanwhile, will be joined by Carey McLeod, a student at the University of Tennessee who jumped a lifetime best of 8.34m to beat Harrison at the SEC outdoor championships in May.
Host nation hopes lie with Yuki Hashioka, the 2018 world U20 champion who has been improving steadily since. The 22-year-old flew to the national title in June with an 8.36m effort, a lifetime best which landed him at No.7 on the 2021 world list.
Bob Ramsak for World Athletics
&nbsp;
<h2>Women's long jump</h2>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/athletes?competitionGroup=olympic-games&amp;disciplineCode=LJ&amp;sexCode=W&amp;urlSlug=the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entries</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/timetable/bydiscipline/men/long-jump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/world-rankings/long-jump/women?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;rankDate=2021-07-13&amp;limitByCountry=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/jumps/long-jump/outdoor/women/senior/2021?regionType=world&amp;windReading=regular&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2021 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/jumps/long-jump/outdoor/women/senior?regionType=world&amp;windReading=regular&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true&amp;firstDay=1900-01-01&amp;lastDay=2021-07-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a> |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/jumps/long-jump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
Opportunity knocks in the women&rsquo;s long jump for whoever can produce their best performance on the day in Tokyo&rsquo;s Olympic stadium.
This Olympic season has thrown up a bunch of medal contenders but none has established dominance so far.
There are six women with legal jumps over the still-impressive barrier of seven metres this year, five of whom will be in the field in Tokyo.
Nigeria&rsquo;s Ese Brume, bronze medallist at the World Athletics Championships in Doha in 2019, has the biggest jump of the year with 7.17m, from American Tara Davis (7.14m) and the ageless 2012 Olympic champion Brittney Reese, who leapt 7.13m to win at the US Olympic Trials last month. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/041cbc2f-0af6-4cfe-b292-eb88bdc0d23a.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="593" />
 The reigning world champion Malaika Mihambo has not yet found the form that carried her to that title in Doha in 2019 and currently stands in 10th place on the list of top performers (6.92m).
However, she did register a wind-assisted 7.02m at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Stockholm earlier this month which suggests she is finding her rhythm.
The Diamond League has produced three different winners from the four women&rsquo;s long jump competitions held to date this year.
Germany&rsquo;s Mihambo triumphed in Oslo, Doha silver medallist Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk was the most recent winner in Gateshead, while Serbian veteran Ivana Spanovic took wins in Florence and Stockholm. However these events were conducted under the experimental &ldquo;Final Three&rdquo; format, whereas the Olympic competition will revert to the traditional six-jump final.
All of which makes it a very unpredictable event this year.
In the absence of the 2016 Olympic champion Tianna Bartoletta, 34-year-old Rio silver medallist Reese is the best credentialed woman in the field with four world titles to her name between 2009 and 2017.
She has not competed outside the US this year, but has registered seven-metre-plus jumps at three different competitions and is still performing to the highest standard in her 14th year at the top of the game.
Meanwhile, her 22-year-old teammate Davis is just setting out on her journey as a professional athlete. The effervescent Davis won the NCAA title this year and then leapt 7.04m to finish second at the US Olympic Trials and earn her place on the Olympic team.
Outstanding college athletes sometimes find the Olympic journey a step too far after a long NCAA season and it remains to be seen if Davis can maintain, or improve on, the standard she set in the first half of the year.
Brume popped out a huge jump in California in May but has struggled to reproduce that form more recently, while Ukraine&rsquo;s Bekh-Romanchuk is admirably consistent just under the seven-metre mark but has yet to show she can jump big enough to win a major title.
Mihambo has not approached the massive 7.30m jump she performed to clinch the world title in 2019 but then neither has anyone else. If she can uncork that magic in the Olympic arena the gold medal will almost certainly be hers. If not then there could be plenty of contenders eyeing the medals.
Nicole Jeffery for World Athletics

Expected highlights in the men's and women's long jump.

Tokyo Olympics preview: long jump

<h2>Women's triple jump</h2>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/athletes?competitionGroup=olympic-games&amp;disciplineCode=TJ&amp;sexCode=W&amp;urlSlug=the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entries</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/timetable/bydiscipline/women/triple-jump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/world-rankings/triple-jump/women?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;rankDate=2021-07-13&amp;limitByCountry=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/jumps/triple-jump/outdoor/women/senior/2021?regionType=world&amp;windReading=regular&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2021 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/jumps/triple-jump/outdoor/women/senior?regionType=world&amp;windReading=regular&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true&amp;firstDay=1900-01-01&amp;lastDay=2021-07-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/jumps/triple-jump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
Yulimar Rojas was thrilled to take the silver medal in Rio five years ago.
Aged just 20 at the time, she headed to those Games as the second-best jumper in the world and confirmed it with her second-place finish behind Colombia&rsquo;s Caterine Ibarguen. She also made history by becoming the first Venezuelan woman to win an Olympic in athletics.
But that competition also marked the beginning of a new chapter in the women&rsquo;s triple jump. And now, anything less than gold at the Olympics would be something of a disappointment for Rojas.
Ibarguen, who won world titles in 2013 and 2015, hasn&rsquo;t returned to the top of a global championships podium since the Rio Games. Rojas, meanwhile, has won all three major crowns: world gold in 2017 and 2019, plus the world indoor title in 2018.
During the current &ndash; and extended &ndash; Olympic cycle, Rojas is the only woman in the world to have jumped beyond 15 metres. In fact, she has done so 17 times, including at all six of her competitions this year.
Last year she broke the world indoor record with 15.43m and in May this year she matched that distance to set an outdoor PB, coming within seven centimetres of the world record and consolidating her No.2 spot on the world all-time list.
It seems just a matter of time before she breaks the world record of 15.50m, set by Inessa Kravets back in 1995, two months before Rojas was born. Rojas had a couple of huge fouls at the recent Wanda Diamond League meeting in Monaco, her last outing before heading to the Games. A proven championship performer, Rojas will be difficult to beat in Tokyo.
Difficult, but not impossible. Jamaica&rsquo;s Shanieka Ricketts was the last person to jump farther than Rojas in a competition, doing so to win the 2019 Diamond League title. She finished second to Rojas at the World Championships in Doha, then returned to the Qatari capital in 2021 for the Wanda Diamond League meeting and improved her PB to 14.98m, once again finishing behind Rojas. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/b932e7a0-6561-46f0-a85b-7226abaa974f.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="633" />
 Ricketts is one half of a strong Jamaican duo. Kimberly Williams took world silver behind Rojas in 2018 and has won the past two Commonwealth titles. She may not be as close to the 15-metre barrier as her compatriot, but she is incredibly consistent and has finished in the top six at all but two of her last nine global championships appearances, dating back to the 2012 World Indoor Championships.
Liadagmis Povea has emerged as something of a force in the past few years. The 25-year-old Cuban jumped a wind-assisted 15.05m back in 2019 and set a PB of 14.93m earlier this year. The Pan-American bronze medallist will be keen to make up for her showing at the 2019 World Championships, where she missed out on making the final.
Keturah Orji, aged just 20 at the time, narrowly missed out on what would have been a historic medal for the USA at the 2016 Olympic Games. Her 14.71m US record was just three centimetres shy of the bronze medal position. Earlier this year, Orji set a US record of 14.92m and has been competitive on the international circuit. Memories of Rio could spur her on to a podium finish in Tokyo.
Five women who have set national records this year could be in the medal hunt.
Portugal&rsquo;s Patricia Mamona improved her own national record to 14.66m in Monaco. She clearly excels in Olympic years, as her previous two national records were set in 2016 and 2012. She has won four medals at the continental level, including European gold in 2016, but has yet to land a global podium finish.
Senni Salminen, who set Finnish records of 14.51m and 14.63m last month, has been the surprise package of the event this year. Spain&rsquo;s Ana Peleteiro, the 2019 European indoor champion and training partner of Rojas, has also been in record-breaking form this year, leaping 14.61m.
NCAA champion Ruth Usoro has set Nigerian records indoors (14.36m) and out (14.50m) this year to qualify for what will be her first major international championships. Thea Lafond of Dominica set an outright national record of 14.54m back in February. An injury just before the 2016 Games meant she finished last in qualifying in Rio, but she&rsquo;ll be hoping for a much better Olympic experience in Tokyo.
Ibarguen and Olga Rypakova, the Olympic champions in 2016 and 2012 respectively, have competed sparingly this year. Neither woman has bettered 14 metres, suggesting their medal-winning form may be behind them, but both will be competing at their fourth Games.
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics
&nbsp;
<h2>Men's triple jump</h2>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/athletes?competitionGroup=olympic-games&amp;countryCode=&amp;disciplineCode=TJ&amp;sexCode=M&amp;urlSlug=the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entries</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/timetable/bydiscipline/men/triple-jump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/world-rankings/triple-jump/men?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;rankDate=2021-07-13&amp;limitByCountry=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/jumps/triple-jump/outdoor/men/senior/2021?regionType=world&amp;windReading=regular&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2021 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/jumps/triple-jump/outdoor/men/senior?regionType=world&amp;windReading=regular&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true&amp;firstDay=1900-01-01&amp;lastDay=2021-07-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/jumps/triple-jump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
USA teammates Christian Taylor and Will Claye finished 1-2 in the men&rsquo;s triple jump at the last two Olympic Games. Only one of them has a chance of reaching the podium this time.
Taylor ruptured his achilles in May, ruling him out of the Tokyo Games and wrecking his hopes of a third straight Olympic title. That leaves Claye, fully recovered from a torn achilles of his own, among the favourites for gold.
Claye &ndash; who also settled for silver behind Taylor at the past two World Athletics Championships &ndash; will try to keep the triple jump crown in American hands against a field of top contenders including Hugues Fabrice Zango of Burkina Faso and Portugal&rsquo;s Pedro Pichardo.
The 30-year-old Claye has made a strong comeback after tearing his achilles while playing pickup basketball in November 2019. Earlier that year, he had jumped 18.14m, the third best of all-time behind Jonathan Edwards (18.29m) and Taylor (18.21m). 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/26734d71-6a40-49f3-82f6-932ed3c8f384.png" alt="" width="950" height="633" />
 Claye&rsquo;s achilles injury would most likely have ruled him out of the Olympics in 2020, but the one-year pandemic postponement gave him the time to rehab and return to full fitness for a chance at his first gold.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m back and feeling like myself again and feeling better,&rsquo;&rsquo; Claye said after winning the US Olympic Trials in June with a jump of 17.21m. &ldquo;I want to go out there and put on a show.&rdquo;
Putting on a show comes natural for Claye, who also happens to be a rap artist with his own music label and fashion line. He has a taste for the dramatic: When he won the silver medal at the 2016 Rio Games with a jump of 17.76m, Claye hopped into the stands, dropped to a knee, took out a ring from his backpack and proposed to hurdler Queen Harrison, now his wife.
Claye, who also won a bronze medal in long jump at the 2012 London Games, is now focused on winning his first major championship title. He finished second at the 2019 World Championships in Doha behind Taylor, his former University of Florida teammate.
Taylor, a four-time world champion, tore his achilles while competing at the Ostrava Golden Spike meet in the Czech Republic in May. That ended his hopes of equalling the record of Viktor Saneyev of the former Soviet Union, who won three Olympic long jump titles in a row from 1968 to 1976.
The 31-year-old Taylor underwent successful surgery and is now looking to return for next year&rsquo;s Worlds in Eugene, Oregon, and the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Claye vowed to perform at his best for his friend and rival in Tokyo.
&nbsp;"I will hold things down until Christian returns,&rdquo; he said.
But there are several other top jumpers looking to break the American dominance.
Look no further than Zango, the bronze medallist in Doha who is aiming to win his country&rsquo;s first ever Olympic medal. The 28-year-old broke the world indoor record with a leap of 18.07m in Aubiere, France, in January, and has the second best outdoor jump in the world this year of 17.82m.
The world&rsquo;s leading outdoor performance this year belongs to Pichardo, the 28-year-old Cuban-born athlete who jumped 17.92m in Szekesfehervar, Hungary, on 6 July.
Pichardo set a Cuban record of 18.08m in 2015, putting him fifth on the all-time list, and also won two world silver medals representing Cuba. Competing for Portugal, he finished fourth in Doha. Pichardo won the 2021 European indoor title and prevailed at the final Diamond League meeting before the Olympics with a 17.50m effort at Gateshead.
Cuba&rsquo;s Andy Diaz, China&rsquo;s Yaming Zhu and Italy&rsquo;s Andrea Dallavalle could also be among the medal contenders.
Steve Wilson for World Athletics

Expected highlights in the women's and men's triple jump.

Tokyo Olympics preview: triple jump

Artefacts from Emil Zatopek, Naoko Takahashi and Eliud Kipchoge highlight the Olympic Athletics Collection room which opens today in the virtual Museum of World Athletics (MOWA)

Zatopek, Takahashi and Kipchoge highlight opening of MOWA Olympic Athletics Collection room

Jim Thorpe and Lina Radke are the latest recipients of the <a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/heritage/plaque/list" target="_blank" rel="noopener">World Athletics Heritage Plaque</a> in the posthumous category of &lsquo;Legend&rsquo;. Their plaques will be unveiled next year respectively in the Stockholm and Amsterdam Olympic Stadiums where they will be on permanent public display.
Thorpe was the Olympic pentathlon and decathlon champion at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm while Radke was the first woman to win an Olympic gold medal in the 800m in Amsterdam in 1928, but their victories held even greater symbolism in the times when they competed.
&ldquo;Even among the pioneers of our sport Jim Thorpe and Lina Radke stand out from their peers due to the significant social and political barriers they challenged," World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said.
&ldquo;More than 100 years later, their struggles, and their determination to succeed in the face of societal opposition, still resonate today. I&rsquo;m delighted that we are acknowledging these two outstanding Olympic champions, exemplars for generations of athletes who followed."
The World Athletics Heritage Plaque is a location-based recognition, awarded for &ldquo;an outstanding contribution to the worldwide history and development of the sport of track and field athletics and of out-of-stadia athletics disciplines such as cross country, mountain, road, trail and ultra-running, and race walking&rdquo;. 
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/heritage/plaque/list/jim-thorpe" target="_blank" rel="noopener">James &lsquo;Jim&rsquo; Francis Thorpe (USA)</a> 28 May 1887 &ndash; 28 March 1953
The Olympic victories of Jim Thorpe, a first nation American, in the pentathlon and decathlon at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, his subsequent disqualification for professionalism and later return of his medals 30 years after his death, make him one of the legendary figures in Olympic history, let alone athletics.
Thorpe&rsquo;s dominance in the pentathlon (7 July 1912) was almost absolute. Only in the javelin throw did he not take first place. King Gustav V of Sweden presented Thorpe with a bronze bust following his victory in the pentathlon saying: &ldquo;Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world.&rdquo; To which Thorpe replied, &ldquo;Thanks. King&rdquo;.
A week later (13-15 July) in the decathlon, the first time the event had been staged at the Olympic Games, he won in a world record nearly 400 points clear of silver. &nbsp;
Thorpe also finished equal fourth in the individual high jump (8 July) and seventh in the long jump (14 July).
His medals were stripped from him two months later when it was discovered he had received $25 playing minor league baseball in 1909 and 1910.
It was not until 13 October 1982 that Thorpe&rsquo;s ban was lifted. On 18 January 1983, his gold medals were presented to his children. 
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/heritage/plaque/list/lina-radke" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Karoline &lsquo;Lina&rsquo; Radke-Batschauer (GER)</a> 18 October 1903 &ndash; 14 February 1983
Lina Radke&rsquo;s position as a pioneer in women&rsquo;s athletics, a multiple world record-breaker who was the inaugural women&rsquo;s Olympic 800m champion in 1928, a victory which was not welcomed by officials and resulted in the event&rsquo;s immediate removal from the Olympic programme (until 1960), represents a struggle against female discrimination. &nbsp;&nbsp;
The first two Women&rsquo;s World Games organised by the International Women's Sports Federation (FSFI) in Paris (1922) and Gothenburg (1926) featured a 1000m event. When the FSFI reached an agreement with the IOC and World Athletics (then the IAAF) to stage women&rsquo;s athletics events in the Olympic Games for the first time in 1928, the 800m, the nearest Olympic distance to the 1000m, was included in the Amsterdam Olympic programme.
The accepted FSFI world record coming into those 1928 Games was held by Radke with a time of 2:19.6.
In the final in Amsterdam, Radke took the lead with 300 metres to go and finished with a three-metre victory over Japan&rsquo;s versatile Kinue Hitomi. Radke&rsquo;s time improved her own world record to 2:16.8.
Despite newspaper stories of athletes finishing the race distressed, the truth was that just one collapsed afterwards. However, the resulting public uproar caused the immediate removal of the women&rsquo;s 800m event from the Olympic programme. It was not to return until Rome 1960!
During Radke&rsquo;s outstanding career she set six ratified world records at distances from 800m to 1200m, which included the 1000m mark which she set in 1930.
Chris Turner for World Athletics Heritage
References:
&middot; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ATFS/World Athletics Olympic Statistics Book, editor Mark Butler &middot; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Complete Book of the Olympics, David Wallechinsky &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/news/feature/centenary-first-womens-olympiad" target="_blank" rel="noopener">International Women's Sports Federation (FSFI)</a>

Jim Thorpe and Lina Radke are the latest recipients of the World Athletics Heritage Plaque in the posthumous category of ‘Legend’. 

Olympic legends Thorpe and Radke awarded World Athletics Heritage Plaques

At the heart of the new Olympic Athletics Collection room which opened today in the virtual <a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/heritage/mowa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Museum of World Athletics (MOWA)</a>, the world&rsquo;s first virtual sports museum, is a spectacular ASICS historic shoe display.
ASICS, formerly named Onitsuka Tiger and founded by Kihachiro Onitsuka in 1949, quickly became the bespoke shoe choice for a legion of Olympic champions.
The athletics shoes of 10 Olympic medallists have been kindly made available to MOWA by the ASICS Museum in Kobe, Japan. Photographed in-situ, by World Athletics Heritage, the shoes are now available virtually in MOWA in glorious 360˚ 3D.
The ASICS display, which is designed to resemble a discus, guides visitors on a chronological journey through the highlights of the company&rsquo;s successful history.
Visitors can activate the spinnable 3D high definition image of each shoe, consult supporting text content in English, French, and Spanish languages, and view stunning photography of the athletes. 
<h3><img style="float: right;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/60f8ab79c932da69a1639873.jpg" alt="&copy;️ IMAGO" width="300" height="417" />Heatley outsprints Tsuburaya</h3>
Appropriately, as the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games is about to get under way, and the Japanese adore the marathon distance, this historic journey begins with the Tokyo 1964 Olympic marathon.
Finishing well behind Ethiopia&rsquo;s Abebe Bikila, the 1960 gold medallist who won by four minutes in Tokyo, Britain&rsquo;s Basil Heatley and Japan&rsquo;s Kokichi Tsuburaya, both wearing Onitsuka footwear, played out a dramatic battle in the stadium. <a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/heritage/news/basil-heatley-tokyo-1964-olympic-silver" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Heatley passed Tsuburaya in the home straight for silver.</a>&nbsp;(Image &copy; IMAGO)
Japan&rsquo;s Kenji Kimihara, who had been more fancied to succeed than Tsuburaya, finished eighth in that Tokyo race.
However, Kimihara took the 1966 Boston Marathon title and two years later was a comfortable Olympic marathon silver medallist in Mexico 1968. He finished well adrift of another Ethiopian Mamo Wolde. It is one of Kimihara&rsquo;s Mexico &rsquo;68 shoes which is on show. 
<h3>Marvellous Montreal</h3>
The 1970s were a golden decade for ASICS. The 1976 Olympic footwear of gold medallists Irena Szewinska (400m world record) and Lasse Viren (marathon, fifth, a day after winning the 5000m), both owned by the World Athletics Heritage Collection, are on display in the Montreal 1976 section of the Olympic room.
Thanks to the assistance of the museum in Kobe, one of Viren&rsquo;s spikes from his second 5000m and 10,000 track double in 1976 can also be viewed there. 
<h3><img style="float: right;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/60f8aa98c932da69a163986d.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="463" />Mota motors to Olympic gold</h3>
Back at the central ASICS display, we recommence our history lesson with the shoes of Seoul 1988 Olympic marathon champion Rosa Mota. The Portuguese, who took a narrow 13-second victory in Korea, had been the bronze medallist four years before in the inaugural women&rsquo;s Olympic marathon in Los Angeles.
The winner of three Boston and three European marathon titles, Mota ranks as one of the greatest female marathon runners of all-time. 
<h3>The Daughter of the Wind</h3>
Like the footwear of Szewinska and Viren, the shoes of Japan&rsquo;s Sydney 2000 Olympic marathon champion Naoko Takahashi are featured elsewhere in the room.
Takahashi, who in the year following her Olympic gold became the first woman to run sub-2:20, generously donated one of her Sydney 2000 competition bib numbers to World Athletics Heritage last year. The shoes and bib are both featured in the Sydney 2000 Olympic display.
There was no underestimating Takahashi&rsquo;s national popularity and fame after her Olympic triumph. She was the subject of a comic strip entitled "Kazekko," or "Daughter of the Wind". Launched in May 2001, the strip told Takahashi&rsquo;s life story and at its height attracted 700,000 readers weekly. 
<h3><img style="float: right;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/60f8aad6c932da69a1639870.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="452" />Athens triple gold</h3>
The visitor now arrives at Mizuki Noguchi, Japan&rsquo;s second Olympic Games women&rsquo;s marathon winner. On display is one of the shoes she wore when winning that title in the Athens 2004 Games. The following year Noguchi set a 2:19:12 Asian record in Berlin. The shoes of the men&rsquo;s 2004 Olympic marathon champion, Stefano Baldini of Italy, are also on show. In Athens, Baldini became only the second Italian to win the Olympic marathon following on from Gelindo Bordin in 1988.
Now we jump into the Athens infield. The visitor can view the pair of spikes which helped elevate Sweden&rsquo;s Stefan Holm, the four-time world indoor champion, to his 2.36m Olympic victory in the men&rsquo;s high jump. 
<h3>Olympic marathon history</h3>
The ASICS display concludes four years later at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with Romania&rsquo;s Constantina Dita. A winner of the 2004 Chicago Marathon, 2005 World Half Marathon Championships and a World Championships bronze at the marathon in the same year, by the time the Beijing Olympics came along the Romanian was not considered a medal contender. At 38 years of age, Dita surprised the world. Running 2:26:44 she took a comfortable victory in the Chinese capital, becoming the oldest Olympic marathon champion in history!
Chris Turner for World Athletics Heritage

At the heart of the new Olympic Athletics Collection room is a spectacular ASICS historic shoe display.

Journey through Olympic history with ASICS footwear display

Historically at least, Great Britain can claim to be the hotbed of marathon running.
The first marathon to be held over what became the standardised distance of 26 miles 385 yards was the 1908 Olympic race in London, from the grounds of Windsor Castle to the track at White City Stadium. Since 1981, the annual London Marathon, from Blackheath to the shadow of Buckingham Palace on The Mall, has been established as one of the world&rsquo;s major city races.
No country has provided more world record-breaking performances in the men&rsquo;s marathon than Britain, with eight. And yet, 125 years on from the original marathon race in Greece in 1896, the United Kingdom has yet to produce a men&rsquo;s or women&rsquo;s winner of the Olympic marathon.
Charlie Spedding took bronze behind Portugal&rsquo;s &lsquo;Peter Pan&rsquo;, Carlos Lopes, and Ireland&rsquo;s John Treacy in Los Angeles in 1984. In addition, four British marathon men have stood on the penultimate step of the Olympic podium. None, however, has done so for more than half a century now. 
<h3>Silver in Tokyo</h3>
It was at the last Olympic Games in Tokyo, back in 1964, that Basil Heatley of the delightfully named and hugely influential Coventry Godiva Harriers followed in the footsteps of Sam Ferris (1932), Ernie Harper (1936) and Tom Richards (1948) with a silver medal-winning run. In doing so, of course, he followed in the immediate shoe tread of the great Abebe Bikila.
A barefoot winner in Rome four years previously, Bikila overcame the effects of a recent appendectomy to become the first man to successfully defend the Olympic marathon crown. The Ethiopian crossed the line in&nbsp;2:12:12, 1:43.8 inside Heatley&rsquo;s four-month-old world record, then delighted the 75,000 crowd with a display of calisthenics.
Heatley, who had been back in 12th at the halfway turn, proceeded to deflate the Japanese crowd by sprinting past Kokichi Tsuburaya on the track to snatch the silver medal. His final 200m was clocked at 32.3 but the 30-year-old Englishman took little consolation in that. He was mortified at having finished a whopping 4 minutes and 17 seconds behind Bikila.
It was to be the self-effacing Heatley&rsquo;s farewell performance on the international stage. He hung up his racing shoes at the end of 1964 and went on to become a national team manager and president of the English Cross Country Association.
He outlived his fellow medallists from that Tokyo Olympic marathon by almost half a century. Tsuburaya ended his own life in 1968, struggling with the thought that injury was ruining his Mexico Olympic chances. Bikila was paralysed after a road accident in 1969 and died of a brain haemorrhage at the age of 41 in 1973.
Heatley died in October 2019, aged 85.
His running CV also included succeeding his boyhood idol Emil Zatopek as world record holder for 10 miles and a victory in the International Cross Country Championships, forerunner of the World Cross Country Championships.
Inevitably perhaps, it is as a marathon man that Heatley is mostly remembered. That, however, would have been a considerable irony to the affable Englishman himself. &nbsp;He was a hugely reluctant marathon runner. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/60f8b257e27c88820e094e44.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="669" /> Basil Heatley and Kokichi Tsuburaya in the Tokyo 1964 Olympic marathon&nbsp;(&copy; IMAGO)
<h3>Inspired by Zatopek</h3>
Born on Christmas Day, December 25, 1933, Heatley grew up on a farm near Coventry, in the English Midlands. As a 14-year-old schoolboy, he was inspired by the deeds of Zatopek at the 1948 Olympic Games in London, where the Czech soldier won gold in the 10,000m and silver in the 5000m.
After joining the Godiva club, he incorporated the Czech&rsquo;s legendary work ethic into his own training regime, performing sessions up and down the driveway of the family farm and gaining extra conditioning with daily farm work and by cycling eight miles to and from school.
In 1951 Heatley won the youths title at the English Midland Cross Country Championships. He ran his first marathon in 1956, winning the Midlands Championship race in 2:36:55. He defended his title in 1957, improving to 2:23:01, but harboured a lingering distaste for the 26.2 mile slog on the roads.
Recalling the aftermath of his debut race in an interview with author Roy Tomizawa (for the book &lsquo;1964: Japan&rsquo;s Greatest Year&rsquo;), Heatley revealed: &ldquo;When I looked round the dressing room and saw everyone in an awful state, I remember saying that if we were four-legged, the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) would ban the marathon.&rdquo; 
<h3>Marathon world best</h3>
Heatley did not return to the cruelty of the marathon for six years &ndash; and, only then, because he came to conclude that it was his most realistic route to Olympic glory.
In the meantime, he became a three-time winner of the coveted English national cross country title (1960, 1961 and 1963). He finished runner up to his England team-mate Frank Sando in the 1957 edition of the International Cross Country Championships and won the 1961 race in Nantes, finishing 23 seconds clear of Belgium&rsquo;s Gaston Roelants.
In April 1961 Heatley ran 47:47.0 in the English AAA Championship 10-mile race at Hurlingham Park in London, breaking Zatopek&rsquo;s 10-year-old world record figures of 48:12.0.
In the winter of 1962-63, the self-coached Heatley began preparing for his marathon mission, by upping his weekly training mileage to a punishing 125. In the 1963 AAA Marathon on home ground in Coventry he finished runner up to his Godiva club-mate Brian Kilby, the reigning European and Commonwealth champion at the distance, in 2:19:56. He also finished fourth in that year&rsquo;s Kosice Peace Marathon in Slovakia in 2:20:22.
Then, in June 1964, Heatley forged his major breakthrough as a reluctant marathon man, setting the fifth of six world records (best) to be run in the London Marathon of its day, the celebrated Polytechnic Harriers Marathon from Windsor to Chiswick.
Forging clear of fellow Briton Ron Hill at the 21 mile mark, Heatley crossed the line in in 2:13:55. That was a 33-second improvement on the mark set in the previous year&rsquo;s &lsquo;Poly&rsquo; race by Buddy Edelen of the USA.
&ldquo;It made me think: &lsquo;Okay, there&rsquo;s a breakthrough;," Heatley told Roy Tomizawa. "I thought, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m obviously going to go out to Tokyo with a chance'." 
<h3>Crushed in Tokyo &ndash; &ldquo;I&rsquo;d been annihilated&rdquo;</h3>
Heading out to the Japanese capital, Heatley considered Kilby to be the favourite for gold. He, discounted Bikila because of the appendix operation he underwent just six weeks before the race.
Kilby finished out of the medal frame in fourth and Heatley took scant consolation from his own silver medal run, feeling crushed by the margin of Bikila&rsquo;s decisive victory.
&ldquo;Look at the photo of me on the rostrum at the finish and then realise what was going through my mind,&rdquo; he urged Vivien Thomas in an interview for Marathon and Distance Runner magazine. &ldquo;I should have been pleased that I&rsquo;d finished my international career on a high but I&rsquo;d been annihilated.
&ldquo;A complete mixture of emotions made me the glummest creature ever that appeared on an Olympic rostrum. I could just see absolutely no reason for being pleased up there.
&ldquo;I was extremely off form on that day. It was a bad run from start to finish. The weather was extremely humid and I developed a stitch very early on, which stayed with me the whole of the race.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think there was any way I or anyone else could have lived with Bikila on that day. I&rsquo;m sorry that I didn&rsquo;t get to know him but I remember him as a very quiet, very dignified man.&rdquo;
In 2014, on the 50th anniversary of the first Tokyo Olympics, Heatley and his wife Gill travelled out to Japan and met relatives of Bikila and Tsuburaya.
A dignified and devoted servant of grass roots athletics, the former farm boy was inducted into the England Athletics Hall of Fame in 2015 by David Moorcroft, another Coventry Godiva great who made it into the world record books.
Simon Turnbull for World Athletics Heritage

It was at the last Olympic Games in Tokyo, back in 1964, that Basil Heatley followed in the footsteps of Sam Ferris (1932), Ernie Harper (1936) and Tom Richards (1948) with a silver medal-winning run.

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