page_title: Athletics in Australia
section_title: Athletics venues in Australia
hierarchical_section_title: Athletics in Australia / Athletics venues in Australia
caption_attribution_description: English: Melbourne Storm playing South Sydney Rabbitohs at Olympic Park Stadium
context_page_description: Athletics is a popular sport in Australia, with around 34,000 athletes, officials and coaches currently registered with the national association.
  Though not as high-profile as sports such as Cricket, Australian Rules Football, Rugby league or Rugby Union in Australia, athletics has produced many world sporting legends, including Edwin Flack, Betty Cuthbert, Herb Elliott, and Cathy Freeman.
  Australia has hosted many important athletics competitions, including the 1956 and 2000 Olympic Games, the 1938, 1962, 1982 and 2006 Commonwealth Games, the 1985 World Cup in Athletics, and the 1996 World Junior Championships.
  Athletics Australia is the governing body for athletics in Australia.
context_section_description: Athletics is conducted in most major centres in Australia, with a number of notable tracks:
  Lakeside Stadium - Melbourne's main venue for athletics
  Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre (formerly QEII Stadium) - hosted the 1982 Commonwealth Games
  Sydney International Athletics Centre - the warm-up track for the 2000 Sydney Olympics and host of the World Junior Championships
  Santos Stadium - since 1998 the main venue for athletics in Adelaide, South Australia
  State Athletics Stadium, Western Australia. Opened in 2009 to replace Perry Lakes which had been built for the 1962 British Empire and a Commonwealth Games.
  A large number of tracks originally established for athletics have since been converted to use by other sports:
  Sydney Cricket Ground - main venue of the 1938 British Empire Games
  Melbourne Cricket Ground - main venue of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and 2006 Commonwealth Games athletics
  Kensington Oval (formerly Olympic Sports Field) - from 1965 to 1998, the home of South Australian athletics
  Bruce Stadium - host to the 1985 IAAF World Cup in Athletics - where two world records were set that still stand in 2008.
  Stadium Australia - host of the 2000 Sydney Olympics athletics events
  Olympic Park Stadium - the home of athletics from 1956 to 2011 in Victoria and the site of numerous world records
  Other significant former athletics venues in Australia include:
  Sydney Sports Ground, 
  Moore Park and Pratten Park in Sydney
  Royal Park and St. Kilda Cricket Ground in Melbourne
  Adelaide Oval, Norwood Oval, and Wayville Showgrounds in Adelaide
  Exhibition Ground, Bowen Park, Brisbane and Lang Park in Brisbane
  Leederville Oval in Perth
  North Hobart Oval in Hobart
  A specially constructed Cross country facility was opened at Canberra in November 2007.  Named as the 'Stromlo Forest Park Robert de Castella cross-country track', this venue hosted the 2008 Australian Cross-Country trials.
caption: Olympic Park (Melbourne): former athletics stadium
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