<P> That same year, the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) was established, becoming the international governing body for track and field, and it enshrined amateurism as one of its founding principles for the sport . The National Collegiate Athletic Association held their first Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship in 1921, making it one of the most prestigious competitions for students, and this was soon followed by the introduction of track and field at the inaugural World Student Games in 1923 . The first continental track and field competition was the 1919 South American Championships, which was followed by the European Athletics Championships in 1934 . </P> <P> Up until the early 1920s, track and field had been almost exclusively a male - only pursuit . A growing women's sports movement in Europe and North America led to the establishment of the Women's World Games in 1921 and this ultimately caused the introduction of five track and field events for women in the athletics at the 1928 Summer Olympics . In China, women's track and field events were being held in the 1920s, but were subject to criticism and disrespect from audiences . In 1923, physical education advocate Zhang Ruizhen called for greater equality and participation of women in Chinese track and field . The rise of Kinue Hitomi and her 1928 Olympic medal for Japan signified the growth of women's track and field in East Asia . More women's events were gradually introduced as years progressed (although it was only towards the end of the century that the men's and women's programmes approached parity of events). Marking an increasingly inclusive approach to the sport, major track and field competitions for disabled athletes were first introduced at the 1960 Summer Paralympics . </P> <P> With the rise of numerous regional championships, as well as the growth in Olympic - style multi-sport events (such as the Commonwealth Games and the Pan-American Games), competitions between international track and field athletes became widespread . From the 1960s onwards, the sport gained more exposure and commercial appeal through television coverage and the increasing wealth of nations . After over half a century of amateurism, the amateur status of the sport began to be displaced by growing professionalism in the late 1970s . As a result, the Amateur Athletic Union was dissolved in the United States and it was replaced with a non-amateur body solely focused on the sport of athletics: The Athletics Congress (later USA Track and Field). The IAAF soon followed suit in 1982, abandoning amateurism, and later removing all references to it from its name by rebranding itself as the International Association of Athletics Federations . The following year saw the establishment of the IAAF World Championships in Athletics--the first ever global competition just for athletics--which, with the Olympics, became one of track and field's most prestigious competitions . </P> <P> The profile of the sport reached a new high in the 1980s, with a number of athletes becoming household names (such as Carl Lewis, Sergey Bubka, Sebastian Coe, Zola Budd and Florence Griffith - Joyner). Many world records were broken in this period, and the added political element between competitors of the United States, East Germany, and the Soviet Union, in reaction to the Cold War, only served to stoke the sport's popularity . The increase in the commercial capacity of track and field was also met with developments in the application of sports science, and there were many changes to coaching methods, athlete's diet regimes, training facilities and sports equipment . This was also accompanied by an increase in the use of performance - enhancing drugs, and prominent cases, such as East German and Russian state - sponsored doping systems damaged the public image and marketability of the sport . </P>

Name the seven typical field events in competition