If you've ever landed on an athletic track on your own in an attempt to stretch your legs, instinctively you may have started your training by running from left to right, counterclockwise. .
And you were right.
Because since 1913, the International Athletics Federation has included in the competition regulations a mandatory meaning to be respected.
Article 163.1 of the code established by the international “Fédé” is clear: “
The race management must be on the left inside
”.
To discover
The full Olympic program
The Olympic medal table
In antiquity, the Greeks already ran the rope on the left
Except that this rule was not always respected at the Olympics.
In 1896 (Athens) and 1900 (Paris), the athletes ran clockwise.
Sylvie Lauduique-Hamez, in "Why the rugby ball is oval and 270 other intriguing questions on sport" (Editions Hugo Sport), recalls that this meaning, at the time, "
did not appear natural in the eyes of some (runners, Editor's note), arguing that the heart was on the left, he would support
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