11 Facts About USATF

The USATF was known between 1979 and 1992 as The Athletics Congress after its spin off from the Amateur Athletic Union, which governed the sport in the US through most of the 20th century until the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 dissolved its responsibility.

However, USATF inherited from AAU the 57 regional associations which are responsible for promoting the sport in a particular state or locality.

The Board's action caused such a controversy that USATF sent an email two days later to all of its members attempting to explain its action.

USATF was defeated by a vote of the delegates in favor of Willie Banks.

USATF is a member of the United States Olympic Committee and selects teams for Olympic and Pan American Games competitions.

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USATF has membership in, or close affiliations with, the NCAA, the National Federation of State High School Associations, the Road Runners Club of America, Running USA, and many community-based and disabled sports organizations.

USATF is composed of 57 Associations, which are the localized administrative districts.

Many of the more than 130,000 members of USATF participate in athletics competitions through one of the thousands of clubs established in all 50 states.

USATF has 57 Associations to promote the sport locally, and membership in USATF constitutes membership in a local association, with the dues being divided between the national and local group.

However, unlike USATF which requires each individual runner to become a member of USATF in order to compete in events or gain other membership benefits, when a club joins RRCA, all of its members automatically become members of RRCA as well.

In 1999, the USATF established the Golden Spike Tour – later the Visa Championship Series – to showcase track and field in America and to facilitate the broadcast of key events on national television networks.