Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

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Olympic qualification

For the athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics competitions, the following qualification systems are in place. Qualification ended on 29 June 2021, but for marathon and 50 km race walking, it already ended on 31 May 2021. Some 1900 athletes, from 196 countries, will compete.[1] 103 countries are qualified also through Universality places (initially 101, 61 men and 40 women).

Table of Contents

Qualifying standards[edit]

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) may enter up to 3 qualified athletes in each individual event if all athletes meet the entry standard during the qualifying period. An NOC may also enter a maximum of 1 qualified relay team per event. Under the universality rule, NOCs may enter one male athlete and one female athlete, regardless of time, if they have no athletes of that gender meeting the entry standard. This makes it possible for every NOC to have a minimum of two representatives in the sports. These universality spots cannot be used in the combined events, the 10,000 metres, or the 3,000 metre steeplechase.[2][3][4]

The qualifying system for Tokyo 2020 saw fundamental changes from the previous Olympics. While the qualification from Rio 2016 and other previous editions relied on qualifying standards, Tokyo 2020 is primarily based on world ranking. World Athletics, the global sport governing body formerly known as IAAF until a name change in 2019, continues to set qualifying times, but these are “set for the sole purpose of qualifying athletes with exceptional performances unable to qualify through the World Athletics Rankings pathway.” The number of entrants per event is capped, with different caps for different events varying from 24 athletes for the combined events to 80 (finally 110) athletes for the marathons.[2][3]

The World Athletics Rankings are based on the average of the best five results for the athlete over the qualifying period. The results are weighted by the importance of the meet.[5]

The qualifying standards may be obtained in various meets during the given period approved by the World Athletics. The qualifying period for the marathon and the 50 km race walk occurs from 1 January 2019 to 5 April 2020 and from 1 December 2020 to 31 May 2021 and the qualifying for the 10,000 m, 20 km race walk and combined events occurs from 1 January 2019 to 5 April 2020 and from 1 December 2020 to 29 June 2021, with the rest of the track and field events happening from 1 May 2019 to 5 April 2020 and from 1 December 2020 to 29 June 2021. The most recent Area Championships may be counted in the ranking, even if not during the qualifying period.[3] On 6 April 2020, the World Athletics announced that the qualification period for the Games was suspended until 30 November 2020, in response to the coronavirus pandemic.[6] In July 2020, World Athletics announced that the suspension period would be lifted for the road events (marathons and race walks) on 1 September 2020.[7]

For the relays, a maximum of sixteen qualified NOCs shall be entitled to each event. The top eight teams in each event at the 2019 World Championships in Athletics (held in Doha from 28 September to 6 October 2019) guarantee a spot on their respective NOCs for the Olympics. The remaining half in each event are selected at the 2021 World Athletics Relays and according to World Athletics Top List as of 29 June 2021.[3]

NOCs with more than three qualified athletes in an individual event may select, using their own rules, athletes from among those qualified. For example, the United States selects athletes based on the result of the 2020 United States Olympic Trials meet, but has a policy of entering every athlete qualified. Sweden only enters athletes good enough to reach at least the eighth position, based on an assessment by the Swedish NOC.

A tracking system of qualification is published by World Athletics: Road to 2020 Olympic Games. This Road to Tokyo tool shows which athletes – subject to being officially selected by their NOC – have qualified to compete. This tool identifies the first 3 qualifiers per country (in bold) but any athlete who has qualified, by Standard or Ranking, can be selected within the limit of 3 per nation. As this is a qualification monitoring tool, not an entry monitoring tool, it won’t highlight which athletes have been officially selected by their NOC, but team announcements of many of the leading nations will be later published by World Athletics.

Some 1900 athletes, from more than 190 countries, will compete at the Olympic Games when the athletics will begin on 30 July.

The qualification period for all stadium events finished on 29 June and the qualification system has now been finalised, showing that about 70% of the athletes in individual events have qualified by entry standard and 30% by world ranking position, while 101 universality places have been awarded.

As already reported when the qualification closed for the longer road events, the men’s and women’s marathon exceeded their event quotas. This is also the case in the men’s and women’s 10,000m and the women’s triple jump. No ranking place was necessary to complete the field in the men’s shot put. But in those cases, regardless of the events’ quotas, any athlete with a qualification standard will still be eligible for selection to compete in Tokyo.

Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics, said: “Olympic qualification processes are always a bit fraught because there’s so much on the line for the athletes, but it’s exciting to see the Olympic fields take shape as the Tokyo Games approach, and it’s pleasing to see that the extended qualifying process we put in place when the Games were postponed last year ultimately allowed more athletes to reach the entry standards”. “With Tokyo 2020 less than a month away, and this last milestone complete, anticipation is growing rapidly for what shapes as an extraordinary competition ahead, based on some of the performances we have seen this year. I’m delighted to see that more than 190 countries will be represented in athletics in Tokyo, reflecting the unmatched universality of our sport, and I look forward to seeing all those athletes competing at the Games from 30 July.”[8]

Athletes must have been born before 1 January 2006 (that, be at least 16 years old at the end of 2021) to compete. Youth athletes (born in 2004 or 2005, age 16 or 17 at the end of 2021) cannot compete in the throwing events, combined events, marathons, race walks, or 10,000 metre events. Junior athletes (born in 2002 or 2003, age 18 or 19 at the end of 2021) may compete in any event but cannot compete in the marathons or the 50 kilometre race walk.[3]

The World Athletics Qualifying Standards are as follows:[9][3]

Track events[edit]

Men’s track events[edit]

Men’s 100 m[edit]

Does not include indoor achievements or races with wind above 2.0 m/s.
Entry number: 56 (17 from ranking) + 28 Universality and 1 Invitational. Some sprinters, like Aaron Brown, have been withdrawn (see note #11).

Men’s 200 m[edit]

Entry number: 56.
Withdrawn after qualification by standard or ranking: Miguel Francis, Benjamin Azamati-Kwaku, Zharnel Hughes, Christophe Lemaitre, Mouhamadou Fall, Paulo André de Oliveira, Felipe Bardi dos Santos, Méba-Mickaël Zeze, Jeffrey John.

Men’s 400 m[edit]

Entry number: 48.

Men’s 800 m[edit]

Entry number: 48. No qualified by ranking.

Men’s 1500 m[edit]

Entry number: 45.

Men’s 5000 m[edit]

Entry number: 42.

Men’s 10,000 m[edit]

Entry number: initial target of 27. 28 runners, one more, originally qualified by entry standard. However, two athletes withdrew, reducing the field to 26 athletes.

Men’s 110 m hurdles[edit]

Do not include indoor achievements. Entry number: 40.

Men’s 400 m hurdles[edit]

Entry number: 40.

Men’s 3000 m steeplechase[edit]

Entry number: 45.

Women’s track events[edit]

Women’s 100 m[edit]

Does not include indoor achievements.

Women’s 200 m[edit]

Women’s 400 m[edit]

Women’s 800 m[edit]

Women’s 1500 m[edit]

Women’s 5000 m[edit]

Women’s 10,000 m[edit]

The initial target for Entry standard (27) has been exceeded.

Women’s 100 m hurdles[edit]

Does not include indoor achievements

Women’s 400 m hurdles[edit]

Women’s 3000 m steeplechase[edit]

Road events[edit]

Men’s road events[edit]

Men’s marathon[edit]

Qualification ended on 31 May 2021. Both marathons had a target number of 80 athletes, but a larger number of athletes fulfilled the qualifying criteria and competed in Sapporo, the venue of the Olympic road events. In the men’s field, 106 athletes qualified (maximum three per nation).

Men’s 20 km walk[edit]

Entry number: 60.

Men’s 50 km walk[edit]

The qualification period ended on 31 May 2021. The entry standard was 3:50:00. The target number was 60 athletes (with a maximum of three per nation) and 38 athletes met the entry standard, leaving 22 places for athletes qualifying by world ranking.

Women’s road events[edit]

Women’s marathon[edit]

Qualification ended on 31 May 2021. Both marathons had a target number of 80 athletes, but a larger number of athletes fulfilled the qualifying criteria and competed in Sapporo, the venue of the Olympic road events. In the women’s field 91 athletes qualified (maximum three per nation):

  • By Entry Standard: 89
  • By Finishing Position at Designated Competitions: 1
  • By World Rankings Position, to complete the required entry number of 80: 0
  • By Universality Places: 1

Women’s 20 km walk[edit]

Field events[edit]

Men’s field events[edit]

Men’s high jump[edit]

Entry number: 33.

Men’s pole vault[edit]

Entry number: 33.

Men’s long jump[edit]

Entry number: 32.

Men’s triple jump[edit]

Entry number: 32.

Men’s shot put[edit]

Entry number: 32. No ranking necessary to complete the field.

Men’s discus throw[edit]

Entry number: 32.

Men’s hammer throw[edit]

Entry number: 32.

Men’s javelin throw[edit]

Entry number: 32.

Women’s field events[edit]

Women’s high jump[edit]

Women’s pole vault[edit]

Women’s long jump[edit]

Women’s triple jump[edit]

No athlete qualified by world ranking.

Women’s shot put[edit]

Women’s discus throw[edit]

Women’s hammer throw[edit]

Women’s javelin throw[edit]

Combined events[edit]

Men’s decathlon[edit]

Entry number: 24.

Women’s heptathlon[edit]

Relay events[edit]

Each relay team will be composed of 5 athletes (4 athletes for the mixed teams, 2 men and 2 women). Athletes already qualified for the 100 m and 400 m events are automatically included in their respective relay teams.

Men’s 4 × 100 m relay[edit]

Entry number: 16 teams of 5 athletes each (80).
By Finishing Position at Designated Competitions: 12
By Top List: 4 (all marks made in 2019).

Men’s 4 × 400 m relay[edit]

Entry number: 16 teams of 5 athletes each (80).

Women’s 4 × 100 m relay[edit]

Women’s 4 × 400 m relay[edit]

Mixed 4 × 400 m relay[edit]

Entry number: 16 teams of 4 athletes each, 2 men and 2 women (64).

See also[edit]

  1. ^

    a: These NOCs have qualified more than 3 athletes for the corresponding individual event. It is the NOC’s responsibility to choose up to 3 athletes among those who qualified for the same event.

  1. ^
    Note RUS: As World Athletics, due to the Russian doping scandal, continues to ban Russian athletes to compete under the Russian flag, it is not clear which flag they compete under and whether it would be lifted until the 2020 Olympics or not. On 30 April 2021, WA announced that the status of Authorised Neutral Athletes (ANA) will be granted to some Russian athletes (4 athletes initially), but in any case no more than 10 ANA athletes will be entered at the Olympic Games.[38][39][40]

    2. On 22 May 2021, 23 more athletes were granted ANA status,[41] followed by another 35 on 7 June.[42][43]

References[edit]

  1. ^ “The XXXII Olympic Games (Athletics) | World Athletics”.
  2. ^ a b “Qualification system for Tokyo 2020 Olympics published by the world governing body, IAAF”. Inside the Games. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d e f “Qualification System – Games of the XXXI Olympiad – Athletics“ (PDF). IAAF. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  4. ^ “IAAF Council approves Olympic qualification system and entry standards”. IAAF. 10 March 2019. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  5. ^ “IAAF to follow other sports with world ranking system for athletes”. BBC Sport. 7 March 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  6. ^ “Olympic qualification period suspended until 1 December 2020”. World Athletics. 6 April 2020. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  7. ^ “Olympic qualifying system to recommence for road athletes from September 2020”. 28 July 2020. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  8. ^ “Olympic qualification period ends”. World Athletics. 2 July 2021.
  9. ^ “QUALIFICATION SYSTEM – GAMES OF THE XXXII OLYMPIAD – TOKYO 2020 WORLD ATHLETICS” (PDF). NOC*NSF. 28 May 2020. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  10. ^ The results of the 2021 Japanese championships were the following: 1. Shuhei Tada 10.15, 2. Bruno Dede [de] 10.19, 3. Ryota Yamagata 10.27, 4. Yuki Koike (sprinter) 10.27, 5. Yoshihide Kiryu 10.28.
  11. ^ The French sprinter will only run in the 4 × 100 m relay. The Road to Tokyo tool of World Athletics indicates two more sprinters who would have qualified by ranking as “withdrawn”: Edward Osei-Nketia (NZL) and Kevin Kranz (GER). Aaron Brown (CAN) is also “withdrawn” but had qualified by entry standard.
  12. ^ Includes 28 athletes qualified by universality place entering at the preliminary round.
  13. ^ “Sha’Carri Richardson positive au cannabis, sa présence à Tokyo compromise”. Lequipe.fr.
  14. ^ a b “Sveriges agerande stoppar utländska friidrottare från OS”. Svt.se. 12 July 2021.
  15. ^ “Canada names 57-strong team for Tokyo”. World Athletics. 3 July 2021. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  16. ^ Ayomide Folorunso with standard will not be competing in the 400 metres hurdles.
  17. ^ “Irene Sánchez-Escribano sufre una lesión y se queda sin Olimpiadas a tan solo unos días del comienzo de los JJOO” (in Spanish). Público. 19 July 2021. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  18. ^ a b “Athletes named to Canada’s Tokyo Olympic team”. CBC. 4 June 2021. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  19. ^ a b “Zhang, Peng clinch Olympic slots with victories at Xuzhou Marathon”. People’s Daily. 12 April 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  20. ^ “Les qualifiés et sélectionnés français pour Tokyo 2020”. Olympics. 27 May 2021. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  21. ^ “Türkiye’nin Tokyo 2020 maraton kadrosu kesinleşti”. TRT Spor. 25 May 2021. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  22. ^ “OLYMPICS: Kiprotich picked for Uganda marathon team”. The Independent (Uganda). 3 May 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  23. ^ a b “Nakamura and Maeda win Japan’s Marathon Grand Championship”. IAAF. 15 September 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
  24. ^ a b “Athletics: Ichiyama, Osako clinch Japan’s last Olympic marathon spots”. Kyodo News. 8 March 2020. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  25. ^ “Definen a los marchistas mexicanos que irán a los Tokio 2021”.
  26. ^ Alternate Athlete: Hagen Pohle, SC Potsdam, qualified by Ranking.
  27. ^ “CRITERIOS DE PRESELECCIÓN PARA LOS JUEGOS OLÍMPICOS 2021 : Del 30 de julio al 8 de agosto de 2021 en Tokio (Japón)” (PDF). RRfea.es. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  28. ^ “Atletiekbond wijst Choukoud en Van Nunen aan voor olympische marathon”. NOS. 2 June 2021. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  29. ^ “Geriausia Lietuvos lengvaatletė Živilė Vaiciukevičiūtė baigė karjerą”. Lengvoji.lt. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  30. ^ Added to the entry list post qualification period after being granted amnesty from a doping ban in May 2021 and subsequently entering the World Rankings quota. [1] [2]
  31. ^ Tested positive COVID-19 in Tokyo.
  32. ^ “Polsstokhoogspringer Koppelaar mist mogelijk Spelen na positieve coronatest”. Nu.nl. 19 July 2021. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  33. ^ “Uno de los mejores atletas cubanos, el triplista Jordan Díaz Fortún, se queda en España”. 14ymedio.com.
  34. ^ Alternate Athlete: Christoph Harting, SCC Berlin.
  35. ^ Alternate Athlete: Andreas Hofmann
  36. ^ “Highlight im Hochsprung – Salome Lang glänzt mit Schweizer Rekord und Olympia-Limite”. Srf.ch. 20 June 2021. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  37. ^ “2021 Team USA List”. FloTrack. 20 June 2021. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
  38. ^ “First Authorised Neutral Athletes approved for 2021 | PRESS-RELEASES”. Worldathletics.org.
  39. ^ “Russia doping scandal: IAAF upholds ban on Russian athletes until further notice”. BBC Sport. 11 March 2019.
  40. ^ “Putin issues order to Russian Olympic Committee to get IAAF ban lifted in time for Tokyo 2020”. Inside The Games. 4 May 2019.
  41. ^ “World Athletics approves the application of 23 Russians to compete internationally as neutral athletes | PRESS-RELEASES”. Worldathletics.org.
  42. ^ “World Athletics approves the application of 35 Russians to compete internationally as neutral athletes | PRESS-RELEASES”. Worldathletics.org.
  43. ^ “Russian Olympic Committee to send 335-member team to Tokyo 2020 Olympics”. Insidethegames.biz.