Croatian Post Mostar in honor of International Day of Sports for Development and Peace, which was proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations on March 6th 2013, has issued a commemorative postage stamp with athletics being the motif. Everybody understands the language of sports, and its great impact is recognized as a way of conveying important messages about development of society.
It can be said that sports history began with athletics – the queen of sports, one of the oldest and most expanded fields of sports that includes running, throwing and jumping disciplines. Athletic activities are available to everybody and may be preformed everywhere, in nature, as well as in closed spaces. Very young children as well as adults can practice athletics, and in the vast variety of athletic disciplines everyone can choose the most adequate one for themselves. They can be practiced individually and as a team, according to the predispositions and abilities of every individual.
Athletics has been in the Olympic Games program, starting from the first known held in Olympia, Greece in the year 776 BC. The number and types of disciplines have changed throughout history, and today men compete in 24 disciplines, while women compete in 22 disciplines of the Olympic Games. The XXXI Olympic Games will be held this year in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) from August 5th to August 21rst.
