Track and Field is the common umbrella term for basically the sports that happen in the Olympic stadium: running, throwing, jumping, etc. i.e. the events that involve running on a "track" and doing activities in a "field".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_and_field

This is true, but the narrow, international definition of "athletics" (which Wikipedia calls "Sport of athletics") apparently includes road running, cross country running, and race walking. These are often not considered to fall under the term "track and field".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport_of_athletics

In the US "Athletics" is generally understood to be any sport that is athletic. The "Athletics Department" at a school oversees Swimming, Squash, Football, Basketball, etc. Track & Field is a specific sport for which a school would compete: while individuals win their Track or Field competitions, the school gets points for each individual competition. This may not be how the terms are viewed outside the US, though. But high schools will have "Track & Field season", usually in the spring, which is when they have their meets.

In the United States at least, "track and field" refers to what other countries might call "athletics" (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_and_field). The term "athletics" in the US would more often be used to refer to sports in general.

Track and field is the American English term for what you're calling "athletics".

Parent was correct. In British English, "athletics" means almost precisely what Americans mean when they say "track and field," though athletics may also include long-distance (cross-country) races not typically held in a stadium.

Derision looks particularly tetchy on someone who can't be bothered to do what they lament others will not do themselves.

We've banned this account for violating the HN guidelines. If you don't want it to be banned, you're welcome to email [email protected].

As the guy who this was responding to, I don't think they should be banned. Most of their posting history seems fairly civil, other than this outlier.

Unrelated: Any idea why this submission is flagged? I don't think it's against the guidelines.

Users flagged it, perhaps because they thought it was more sensational controversy than intellectually interesting.

Don't start your replies with "Wrong", don't condescendingly use common English words like "milllenial" as insults, and don't reply at all if you feel like you're wasting your time.

Or do whatever you want, but that's why you've been downvoted.

In the US, "athletics" is usually called "track and field". Here we have "USA Track & Field" as our governing body.

At least here in Canada the term "track and field" is used to refer in general to running, jumping and throwing athletic sports.