The high jump and pole vault test a competitor’s ability to clear a bar at various heist. The long jump and triple jump determine how far a competitor can jump horizontally after a running start Athletes who excel short distances. They have strong legs and good coordination. Like high jumpers, pole-vaulters attempt to clear a crossbar. The pole vault bar is much higher and the athlete uses a flexible pole, generally from 4 to 5 m long, to propel his or her body into the air and over the bar. Poles are usually of fiberglass, which replaced bamboo or metal in the 1960s.

A long jump is a contest that measures who can jump the farthest in a horizontal distance. To jump, an athlete sprints down a runway about 45 m long, then springs from a takeoff board, sails through the air, and lands in a sandpit. Like the long jump, the triple jump involves sprinting down a runway and jumping to reach is sometimes called the hop, skip and jump because triple jumpers must know the correct landing in the sandpit.

The heptathlon, the Greek word for ‘seven tests’, is the women’s multi event competition. It happens over a two- day period. The 100-metre hurdle, high jump, shot put and 200-metre dash occur on day one. The second day features the long jump, javelin and 800-metre race. American Jackie Joyner-kersee is considered the most talented heptathlon athlete ever. She won gold medals in the event at the Olympics in 1988 and 1992.

The uniform worm by the athletes is often in the cooler of their team, club or nation. The dress consists of a top or shirt and light shorts designed for maximum comfort and performance. The most important part of dressing for these events is a pair of spiked track shoes. There is a number pinned to the uniform of the participants to enable the officials, judges and fans identify aspect of track and field events. Something does only a few centimeters decide the first and second place for the participants. These events can be timed with videotapes and photo finishes. In athletic events, played locally, events are started with a pistol and stopwatches.

One official fires the gun into the air as the starting signal and other officials or volunteers time each competitor with independent stopwatches. Some competitions at this level use multilane times. A multilane timer consists of a single electronic system that times all eight runners simultaneously. One official starts the system when the starting pistol is fired. Eight other officials near each assigned to the main unit by a cord. When the runner in their assigned lane crosses the finish line, the lane official presses the button and the runner’s time is recorded.

In International Athletic Meet, sophisticated timing systems are used as hand-timed races are not considered accurate enough to measure Olympic or world records in the shorter tracks events. To record shorter than the 400-metre dash, an automatic timing system must be used. This highly accurate system features an electronic starting pistol and a computerized timing device that produce an image of the finish. Most start-of-the-art timing systems use a camera that feeds a stream of digital photographs into a computer. An operator then uses special software to read the times. Older systems use a videotape or conventional photography to record the finish. It is surprising that wind is another factor that is measured when the time of the runner is recorded.