Athletics abbreviations - Wikipedia Athletics abbreviations The sports under the umbrella of athletics, particularly track and field, use a large number of statistics. In order to report that information efficiently, numerous abbreviations have grown to be common in the sport. Starting in 1948 by Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, Track and Field News became the leader in creating and defining abbreviations in this field. But these abbreviations have also been adopted by, among others, the IAAF ; the world governing body, various domestic governing bodies, the Association of Track and Field Statisticians, the Association of Road Racing Statisticians, the Associated Press and the individual media outlets who receive their reports. These abbreviations also appear in Wikipedia. Contents 1 Times and marks 1.1 Records 1.2 Bests 1.3 Circumstances and conditions 1.4 Disqualifications 2 Initialisms 2.1 Organising bodies 2.2 Publications and statisticians 3 Events 4 Competitions 5 References 6 External links Times and marks Almost all races record a time. Evolving since experiments in the 1930s, to their official use at the 1968 Summer Olympics and official acceptance in 1977, fully automatic times have become common. As this evolution has occurred, the rare early times were specified as FAT times. As they are now commonplace, automatic times are now expressed using the hundredths of a second. Hand times ( watches operated by human beings ) are not regarded as accurate and thus are only accepted to the accuracy of a tenth of a second even when the watch displays greater accuracy. If the mark was set before 1977, a converted time to the tenth was recorded for record purposes, because they did not have a system to compare between the timing methods. Frequently in those cases there is a mark to the 100th retained for that race. Over this period of evolution, some reports show hand times also followed with an `` h '' or `` ht '' to distinguish hand times. With two different timing methods came the inevitable desire to compare times. Track and Field News initiated adding. 24 to hand times as a conversion factor. Many electronic hand stopwatches display times to the hundredth. Frequently those readings are recorded, but are not accepted as valid ( leading to confused results ). Some low level meets have even hand timed runners and have switched places according to the time displayed on the stopwatch. All of this is, of course, wrong. Hand times are not accurate enough to be accepted for record purposes for short races. Human reaction time is not perfectly identical between different human beings. Hand times involve human beings reacting, pushing the stopwatch button when they see the smoke or hear the sound of the Starting pistol, then reacting ( possibly anticipating ) the runner crossing the finish line. The proper procedure for converting hand times would be to round any hundredths up to the next higher even tenth of a second and then add the. 24 to get a time for comparison purposes only. But many meets displayed the converted marks accurate to the hundredth making the results look like they were taken with fully automatic timing. In these cases, some meets have displayed a 4 or a 0 in the hundredths column for all races. When detected, reports of these times are followed by a `` c '' or ' to indicate converted times. Road race times are only considered accurate to a full second. To distinguish a full second time with hours, from a minute time with hundredths of a second, colons are used to separate hours from minutes, and minutes from seconds. A period is used to separate seconds from hundredths of a second. Transponder timing is becoming more common. The RFID detection system times the transponder chip, usually located on a runner 's shoe as opposed to the official timing of the torso. Accurate to a full second, this is not significant, but in breaking microscopic ties, the data does not correspond to timing rules. Most road races can not fit all participants onto the start line. Depending on the size of the field, some athletes could be several city blocks away from the start line and in the large crowd, could take minutes to get across the line. Results frequently indicate two times, the `` gun time '' would be the official time from the firing of the starting gun, but the mat time shows the time the shoe crossed a sensing mat at the start line to the time the shoe crossed the sensing mat at the finish line. Occasionally, when breaking ties using photo finish, times are displayed to the thousandth of a second. These times to the thousandth are not used for record purposes but times to the thousandth can be used to break ties between adjacent heats. Rules specify if a tie is broken this way, that all heats involved are recorded with the same timing system. Records Most records are subject to ratification by the governing body for that record. On the world level, that is the IAAF. Each body has their own procedure for ratifying the records : for example, USATF, the governing body for the United States, only ratifies records once a year at their annual meeting at the beginning of December. Until a record is ratified, it is regarded as `` Pending '' which is sometimes indicated by a following P WR = World Record OR = Olympic Record CR = Championship Record GR = Games Record AR = Area ( or continental ) Record ER = European Record NR = National Record ( for a specific country ) MR = Meet Record DLR = Diamond League Record When a J is added, it indicates a junior record ( if a junior does not reach their 20th birthday in the calendar year of the mark ) WJR = World Junior Record AJR = Area ( or continental ) Junior Record NJR = National Junior Record ( for a specific country ) # = indicates a record has not been accepted, or there is some sort of irregularity with a result X = indicates the athlete has been disqualified after the performance ( usually, this is for taking performance - enhancing drugs ) Bests Some records are ratified or tracked, but they are not to the same standard of quality or accuracy as a record. The term is `` bests. '' IAAF lists bests for the Youth division and for road racing records such as the marathon. It also tracks athlete personal achievements as bests. A Y indicates Youth. A youth athlete has not reached or will not reach their 18th birthday in the calendar year of competition. WYB = World Youth Best ( the best mark achieved by an athlete in the youth age category ) WB = World Best ( the best mark recorded for a non-IAAF world record event ) PB = Personal Best ( the best mark achieved by an athlete on a personal level ) SB = Season 's Best ( the best mark achieved by an athlete on a personal level within a given season ) WL = World Leader ( the best mark achieved worldwide within a given season ) Circumstances and conditions A = a mark set at altitude w = a wind assisted mark NWI = No Wind Information For events where wind assistance is a factor ( outdoor races 220 yards or less, Long Jump and Triple Jump ), the wind reading is usually reported in metres per second or `` m / s '' a = in a road race, indicates a course that has conditions that assist the athlete ( downhill, favoring wind, point to point ) + = indicates a time was taken at an intermediate distance in a longer race c = indicates a converted mark DNF = Did not finish DNS = Did not start DQ = Disqualified i = indoors n = non-winning time h = hand timed Mx = mixed gender race NH = No height NM = No mark NT = No time ND = No distance AC = Also competed Q = automatic qualifier in a major competition See Qualifying standards in athletics q = secondary qualifier, by next best time or distance to complete the prescribed field size, rather than achieving a place or measurement goal Wo = women only race y = race measurement was in yards Disqualifications Athlete disqualifications often reference the IAAF rule number under which the athlete was disqualified. This is typically written in the format ( false start as example ) : DQ R162. 7 40.1 -- Doping violation during or in connection with the championships 40.8 -- Prior doping violation leading to suspension during the period of the championships 41.1 -- Doping violation by one or more relay team members 142.4 -- Failure to participate honestly with bona fide effort 144.2 -- Giving or receiving assistance ( e.g. pacing, use of electronic devices ) 145.2 -- Acting in an unsporting or improper manner ( unsportsmanlike conduct ) 149 - Entry to championships on the grounds of invalid performances 162.7 -- False start 163.2 -- Jostling or obstructing another athlete on the track 163.3 -- Running out of lane 163.5 -- Running out of lane ( before 800 m breakline ) 168.6 -- Knocking down hurdle out of lane 168.7 -- Illegal hurdle clearance and / or deliberately knocking down hurdle 170.6 -- Baton not carried by hand ; gloves or substances worn to give a better grip of the baton 170.6 c -- Dropped baton not retrieved by the athlete who dropped it 170.7 -- Baton not passed within take - over zone 170.8 -- Obstructing another team by athlete without baton 170.11 -- Unverified team composition or running order 170.17 -- Outgoing runner in 4x400m relay begins running and / or breaks from lane too early 218.4 -- Illegal change of position by waiting relay runner ( indoor events ) 230.6 a -- Failure to comply with definition of race walking according to three different judges 240.8 e -- Illegal action by person authorised to hand refreshment to athlete 240.8 f -- More than two team officials stationed behind drinks table and / or running beside an athlete while taking on refreshment or water Initialisms Organising bodies The various organizing bodies of the sport are abbreviated into alphabet soup. AAA = Amateur Athletic Association of England -- England AAA = Asian Athletics Association AAU = Amateur Athletic Union USA amateur sports umbrella governing body formed 1887 until broken up in 1979 -- USA AK = Athletics Kenya -- Kenya ANA = Authorised Neutral Athletes ANZ = Athletics New Zealand -- New Zealand APA = Association of Panamerican Athletics -- North and South America ARAF = All - Russia Athletic Federation -- Russia BAAA = Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations -- Bahamas BFLA = Belarus Athletic Federation -- Belarus CAA = Confederation of African Athletics CACAC = Central American and Caribbean Athletic Confederation -- Central America and Caribbean CBAt = Confederação Brasileira de Atletismo -- Brasil CISM = International Military Sports Council -- Military athletics CONSUDATLE = Confederación Sudamericana de Atletismo -- South America CTAA = Chinese Taipei Athletics Association -- Taiwan DAF = Danish Athletics Federation -- Denmark DLFV = 1949 -- 1990 during the existence of East Germany DLV = Deutscher Leichtathletik - Verband -- Germany EAA or EA = European Athletic Association / European Athletics EAF = Ethiopian Athletic Federation -- Ethiopia EKJL = Eesti Kergejõustikuliit -- Estonia FCA = Federación Cubana de Atletismo -- Cuba FFA = Fédération française d'athlétisme -- France FIDAL = Federazione Italiana di Atletica Leggera -- Italy FISU = International University Sports Federation -- Student athletics IAAF = International Association of Athletics Federations -- World IAU = International Association of Ultrarunners IOC = International Olympic Committee -- Olympics IPC = International Paralympic Committee -- Paralympic athletics JAAA = Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association -- Jamaica JAAF = Japan Association of Athletics Federations -- Japan KNAU = Royal Dutch Athletics Federation -- Netherlands OAA = Oceania Athletics Association NACAC = North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association -- North America NCAA = National Collegiate Athletic Association -- USA Colleges and Universities NFHS = National Federation of State High School Associations -- USA High Schools RFEA = Real Federación Española de Atletismo -- Spain TAC = The Athletics Congress, predecessor to USA Track & Field 1979 -- 1992 -- USA UKA = UK Athletics -- United Kingdom USATF = USA Track & Field -- USA WAVA = 1977 -- 2001 World Association of Veteran Athletes -- World Masters ( athletes over age 35 ) WMA = since 2001 World Masters Athletics -- World Masters ( athletes over age 35 ) WMRA = World Mountain Running Association Publications and statisticians ARRS = Association of Road Racing Statisticians ATFS = Association of Track and Field Statisticians AW = Athletics Weekly NUTS = National Union of Track Statisticians -- United Kingdom T&FN = Track & Field News Events Due to the large number of athletics events that are regularly contested, presentations of results and statistics often use abbreviations to refer to the events, rather than the full form. CE = Combined events DMR = Distance medley relay DT = Discus throw HJ = High jump HM = Half marathon HT = Hammer throw JT = Javelin throw LJ = Long jump mh = metres hurdles ( e.g. 400mh for 400 metres hurdles ) PV = Pole vault SMR = Sprint medley relay SP = Shot put SC, st. or s'chase = Steeplechase TJ = Triple jump WT = Weight throw XC or CC = Cross country running Competitions AAG = All - Africa Games AfC = African Championships in Athletics AsC = Asian Athletics Championships CWG = Commonwealth Games DL = IAAF Diamond League EC or ECh = European Athletics Championships ECCC = European Cross Country Championships EIC = European Athletics Indoor Championships EJC = European Athletics Junior Championships EG = European Games ETC = European Team Championships ESAA = English Schools ' Athletics Championships ISTAF = Internationales Stadionfest Berlin LYG = London Youth Games OG = Olympic Games WC or WCh = World Championships in Athletics WHM = IAAF World Half Marathon Championships WIC = IAAF World Indoor Championships WJC = IAAF World Junior Championships in Athletics WXC = IAAF World Cross Country Championships WYC = IAAF World Youth Championships in Athletics PAG = Pan American Games SAG = South Asian Games SEAG = Southeast Asian Games References Jump up ^ `` FAT vs Handheld Times ''. Gordie Richardson Oakland County 7th & 8th Grade Track Meet. Retrieved 1 April 2018. Jump up ^ https://sports.stackexchange.com/a/465 Jump up ^ Butler, Mark et al. ( 2013 ). IAAF Statistics Book Moscow 2013 ( archived ), p. 71. IAAF. Retrieved on 2015 - 07 - 06. External links GBR Athletics abbreviations Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Athletics_abbreviations&oldid=855468939 '' Categories : Lists of abbreviations Athletics ( track and field ) terminology Glossaries of sports Talk Contents About Wikipedia Español मराठी Edit links This page was last edited on 18 August 2018, at 14 : 45 ( UTC ). Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: what does j mean in track and field
Answer: indicates a junior record (if a junior does not reach their 20th birthday in the calendar year of the mark)