Athletes performances are timed or measured at virtually all track and field competitions. Doing so can not only serve as a way of determining the winner in an event, but it can also be used for historical comparison (i.e. a record). A large variety of record types exist and men's and women's performances are recorded separately. The foremost types of records organise athlete's performances by the region they represent—beginning with national records, then continental records, up to the global or world record level. National governing bodies control the national record lists, the area associations organise their respective continental lists, and the IAAF ratifies world records.