1991 Arab Athletics Championships were held in 1989, did not return on this occasion. 1991 Arab Athletics Championships The 1991 Arab Athletics Championships was the seventh edition of the international athletics competition between Arab countries. It took place in Latakia, Syria from 1–4 October. A total of 39 athletics events were contested, 23 for men and 16 for women. The marathon race was held on a short course in Latakia, and was ultimately dropped at the following edition. The men's 50 kilometres race walk (introduced in 1987) was removed from the programme, while the women's 100 metres hurdles was not held due to a
Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics not the venue for the opening or closing ceremonies in Rio de Janeiro – that honour went to Brazil's foremost soccer venue, the Maracanã Stadium. On the first day, the first gold medal was won by Almaz Ayana of Ethiopia, who broke a long-standing world record in the women's 10,000 metres by almost fifteen seconds. The race as a whole was historically fast, setting four of the five fastest times ever for the distance and seeing eight national records broken. China's Wang Zhen was the first male winner of the 2016 Olympic athletics, topping the 20 kilometres race walk podium.