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Starting blocks are a device used in the sport of Track and Field, known worldwide as Athletics, by sprinters to hold their feet at the start of a race so they don't slip as they push out at the sound of the gun. For most levels of competition, including all high level International competition, starting blocks are now mandatory equipment for the start of sprint races. The first starting blocks are credited to being invented by Australian Charlie Booth and his father in 1929. Prior to their invention, runners would dig holes in the dirt track. Trowels were provided at the start of races. This was not the most consistent or stable system. It also was destructive to the track surface with the holes having to be filled for subsequent runners. Wood was the first material used, with some tracks having permanently placed wooden structures at the start line. Portable blocks were held by long metal spikes that needed to be pounded into the ground. These devices evolved to metal blocks. The common blocks of the 1960s were heavy and adjusted by screws that were frequently broken or became rusted over the years. Lighter weight blocks were made of sheet metal. The rubberized surfaces of new All-weather running tracks that became common starting in the 1970s, made the old blocks even less secure.

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Tyson Gay (born August 9, 1982) is an American track and field sprinter. His primary events are the 100 meters and 200 meters. His personal bests establish him as the second fastest athlete in the 100 meters and the fifth fastest athlete in the history of the 200 meters, with times of 9.69 (which is a United States record) and 19.58 seconds respectively. Gay has won numerous medals in major international competitions, including a gold medal sweep of the 100 m, 200 m and 4 x 100 meters relay at the 2007 Osaka World Championships. This made Gay the second sprinter to win all three events at the same World Championships, after Maurice Greene.

Recent achievement

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Performance
2007	World Championships in Athletics	Osaka, Japan	1st	100 m	9.85
2007	World Championships in Athletics	Osaka, Japan	1st	200 m	19.76
2007	World Championships in Athletics	Osaka, Japan	1st	4x100 m relay	37.78
2009	World Championships in Athletics	Berlin, Germany	2nd	100 m	9.71
2009	IAAF World Athletics Final	Thesaloniki, Greece	1st	100 m	9.88

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File:1500 m European Athletics Indoor Championships 2009.JPG

Credit: Erik van Leeuwen

1500 metres at 2009 European Athletics Indoor Championships

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... that Erica Larson, a chemist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, won the Pikes Peak mountain marathon five times in six years between 1999 and 2004, more than any other woman in the event's history?
... that all four deaths in the thirty annual Chicago Marathons have occurred in the last ten years?
... that wind assistance has caused the non-ratification of many potential world records in athletics?
... that Patrick Ivuti's photo finish victory in the 2007 Chicago Marathon, one of the five major marathons, was his first marathon victory?