Research on Intercontinental Competitive Athletics Characteristics and Evolution Trend of Track and Field in Olympic Games

Track and field were the first event to enter the Olympics and has the largest number of gold medals. Understanding its more than one hundred years of Olympic history is strategically significant for the future sports development of all continents. Using statistical data from 27 Olympic Games between 1896 and 2021, an analysis was conducted using the Boston matrix method from economics. The results indicate that Europe and North America have reached saturation, Africa has made the fastest progress, Asia has rebounded after a 40-year trough, Oceania still has a long way to go, and South America is struggling. Global track and field sports have reached a state of "convergence," characterized by "the strong becoming stronger, the weak remaining weak, and a clear disparity between the strong and weak." In the future, the overall competitive structure is expected to maintain a stable dynamic balance cycle under the dominance of Europe, North America, and Africa.