In many

sport Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

s, a competition number is used to identify and differentiate the competitors taking part in a competitive endeavour. For example, runners in a race may wear prominent competition numbers so that they may be clearly identified from a distance. Competition numbers are differentiated from uniform numbers in that the former are used for a specific event (for example, competition numbers worn by

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair di ...

runners) while the latter persist over time through multiple events, seasons, or sometimes an entire career (for example, uniform numbers worn by

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

players). Competition numbers may also be called bib numbers when worn on bibs over, or affixed to, the athletes' tops. With new technology, bibs might contain timing chips for electronic identification. In addition to identifying an athlete, many high profile events also imprint sponsor logos. In such high profile events, bib numbers are mandatory. Failure to wear them could make an athlete subject to disqualification.

Athletics

Since the 2000s,

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

athletes at major competitions wear their names as well as their numbers on their bibs. In relay events, all team members have the

IOC country code The International Olympic Committee (IOC) uses three-letter abbreviation country codes to refer to each group of athletes that participate in the Olympic Games. Each geocode usually identifies a National Olympic Committee (NOC), but there are ...

Track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the short ...

athletes also wear lane numbers on the shorts called "hip numbers", for identification by the

fully automatic timing Fully automatic time (abbreviated FAT) is a form of race timing in which the clock is automatically activated by the starting device, and the finish time is either automatically recorded, or timed by analysis of a photo finish. The system is c ...

system which photographs athletes from the side as they cross a finish line. In

racewalking Racewalking, or race walking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Race judges carefully asse ...

events, competitors also must wear numbers on their backs for identification by the judges after a violation has been detected. In mixed competitions, like

s, where professional athletes run on the same course as non-elite athletes, the professionals traditionally wear bibs with their names to differentiate their pre-race status.

Gallery

File:Cheruiyot.jpg,

Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot Robert "Mwafrika" Kipkoech Cheruiyot (born 26 September 1978 in Kapsabet, Kenya), sometimes known as Omar Ahmed, is a Kenyan marathon runner and is the former record holder and four-time winner of the Boston Marathon. Early career Cheruiyot t ...

in the 2006

Boston Marathon The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon race hosted by several cities and towns in greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts, United States. It is traditionally held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897, the event was ...

with number on front of bib File:Aselefech Mergia 6618.jpg, 2009 World marathon runner with surname on front of bib File:3000 steeple final Berlin 2009.jpg , 2009 World steeplechase runners with numbers on the back of bibs File:4 x 400 m Jamaica Berlin 2009.JPG, 2009 World 4 × 400 m relay team with "JAM" for the Jamaican team

Motorsport

In some types of motorsport, such as rallys, competition numbers are attached to the vehicles taking part in a specific event. The competition number can also be used in conjunction with some kinds of timing systems, such as

targa timing Targa timing (not to be confused with target timing) is a system of timing used in car rallying. It was invented by John Brown, the Clerk of the Course for the Targa Rusticana, a road rally (named after the Italian Targa Florio) organised in Wal ...

Gallery

File:Dakar-rally-paris1992-.jpg, Cars of the 1992

Dakar Rally The Dakar Rally (or simply "The Dakar"; formerly known as the "Paris–Dakar Rally") is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation. Most events since the inception in 1978 were staged from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal ...

, with competition numbers visible File:Audi Quattro - 2008 Rallye Deutschland.jpg, A rally competitor displaying competition number C166 File:Camion dakar.jpg, A rally support truck, with competition number 624 visible File:Joan Barreda Piloto Amv Dakar 2016 (137839365).jpeg, A motorcycle rally competitor, with competition number 6 visible

Other sports

Other sports that may utilize competition numbers include: *

Alpine skiing Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether ...

Biathlon The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not ti ...

BMX racing BMX racing is a type of off-road bicycle racing. The format of BMX was derived from motocross racing. BMX bicycle races are sprint races on purpose-built off-road single-lap race tracks. The track usually consists of a starting gate for up to ei ...

Gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, s ...

* Snowboarding *

Triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the d ...

Gallery

File:Pippa Middleton at downhill ski race in Mürren, Switzerland - 03.jpg, Alpine skiers File:Biathlon Oberhof 2013-039.jpg, Biathaletes File:2018-10-15 Gymnastics at 2018 Summer Youth Olympics – Girls' Artistic Gymnastics – Apparatus finals – Balance beam (Martin Rulsch) 719.jpg, Gymnast File:Speedsuit.jpg, Triathlete

Notable competition numbers

While the uniform numbers of various sportspeople have become well-known (for example,

Wayne Gretzky Wayne Douglas Gretzky ( ; born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One ...

's 99,

Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. His biography on the official NBA website states: "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the g ...

's 23, and

Mickey Mantle Mickey Charles Mantle (October 20, 1931 – August 13, 1995), nicknamed "the Commerce Comet" and "the Mick", was an American professional baseball player. Mantle played his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career (1951–1968) with the New York ...

's 7), this is rare for competition numbers, which generally are used by an athlete only for a single event. Some notable exceptions include: * 6 used by Paul Bikle, a

gliding Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word ''soaring'' is ...

competitor. The Bikle T-6, a

glider Glider may refer to: Aircraft and transport Aircraft * Glider (aircraft), heavier-than-air aircraft primarily intended for unpowered flight ** Glider (sailplane), a rigid-winged glider aircraft with an undercarriage, used in the sport of gliding ...

, was named for Bikle's competition number and the T-tailed design of the aircraft. * 13 in

cycling Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from tw ...

, which is commonly worn upside-down due to

triskaidekaphobia Triskaidekaphobia ( , ; ) is fear or avoidance of the number . It is also a reason for the fear of Friday the 13th, called ''paraskevidekatriaphobia'' () or ''friggatriskaidekaphobia'' (). The term was used as early as in 1910 by Isador Coria ...

. * 51 in the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consist ...

, due to a false belief that it has been worn by more winners than any other number. * 261 in the

, due to it being worn by

Kathrine Switzer Kathrine Virginia Switzer (born January 5, 1947) is an American marathon runner, author, and television commentator. In 1967, she became the first woman to run the Boston Marathon as an officially registered competitor. During her run, race man ...

in the 1967 edition of the event, when she became the first woman to run the race as a numbered entrant. Switzer later created a non-profit organization named 261 Fearless. At the

2019 Boston Marathon The 2019 Boston Marathon was the 123rd running of the annual marathon race held in Boston, Massachusetts. It took place on April 15, 2019. The elite men's race came down to a sprint finish, which Lawrence Cherono won in 2:07:57. The elite wome ...

, organizers gave special bib numbers to several celebrities. Former

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the maj ...

player Tedy Bruschi was given 5454, his uniform number repeated;

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and h ...

driver

Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Kenneth Johnson (born September 17, 1975) is an American professional auto racing driver. A seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, he competes part-time in the series driving for Petty GMS Motorsports. Johnson's seven Cup championships, ...

was given 4848, his car number with

Hendrick Motorsports Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) is an American professional auto racing organization that competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team was founded in 1984 as All Star Racing by Rick Hendrick. Hendrick Motorsports has won a NASCAR-record 291 Cup Ser ...

repeated; and

Joan Benoit Samuelson Joan Benoit Samuelson (born May 16, 1957) is an American marathon runner who was the first women's Olympic Games marathon champion, winning the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. She held the fastest time for an American wo ...

was given 1979, the year of her first win in the event.

References

External links

Thousands Of Runners Grab Bib Numbers, Gear At Boston Marathon Expo
from

CBS Boston WBZ-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is Owned-and-operated station, owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside ...

via

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

Triathlon Race Day Tips , Race Belt and Race Number
via YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Competition Number *

Athletics

Gallery

Motorsport

Gallery

Other sports

Gallery

Notable competition numbers

See also

References

Further reading

External links