The Association of Track and Field Statisticians (ATFS) was founded in 1950. It is an international organization run by volunteers whose goal is to collect and disseminate the statistics of

track and field athletics Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

Foundation

On 26 August 1950 at the Café de la Madeleine in the Rue de la Montagne,

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, whilst attending the

1950 European Athletics Championships The 4th European Athletics Championships were held from 23 August to 27 August 1950 in the Heysel Stadium of the Belgium, Belgian capital Brussels. Contemporaneous reports on the event were given in the Glasgow Herald. Men's results Complet ...

, the Association of Track and Field Statisticians was founded.. Two of the founding members, Roberto Quercetani and Donald Potts, had published in 1948 the first study of world all-time lists, A Handbook on Olympic Games Track and Field Athletics. Readers of this book were inspired to found an international association of track statisticians. One of the founding members, the Belgian journalist André Greuze, organised the first meeting on 26 August. One of the meeting's first acts was to elect

Harold Abrahams Harold Maurice Abrahams (15 December 1899 – 14 January 1978) was an English track and field athlete. He was Olympic champion in 1924 in the 100 metres sprint, a feat depicted in the 1981 film '' Chariots of Fire''. Early life and educati ...

as honorary president.

Founding members

* President: Roberto Quercetani (Italy) * Secretary: Fulvio Regli (Switzerland) * Committee:

Norris McWhirter Norris Dewar McWhirter (12 August 192519 April 2004) was a British writer, political activist, co-founder of The Freedom Association, and a television presenter. He and his twin brother Ross were known internationally for founding the refe ...

(UK), Donald Potts (USA) * Members:

(UK) - Hon. President, Bruno Bonomelli (

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

André Greuze The Association of Track and Field Statisticians (ATFS) was founded in 1950. It is an international organization run by volunteers whose goal is to collect and disseminate the statistics of track and field athletics. Foundation On 26 August 19 ...

(

), Erich Kamper (

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

), Ekkehard zur Megede (

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

André Senay The Association of Track and Field Statisticians (ATFS) was founded in 1950. It is an international organization run by volunteers whose goal is to collect and disseminate the statistics of track and field athletics. Foundation On 26 August 19 ...

(

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

), Björn-Johan Weckman (

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

Wolfgang Wünsche The Association of Track and Field Statisticians (ATFS) was founded in 1950. It is an international organization run by volunteers whose goal is to collect and disseminate the statistics of track and field athletics. Foundation On 26 August 19 ...

(

) Note: two of the founders, Potts and Wünsche, were not actually present at the first meeting but are considered as founding members.

Yearbook

The association has published an annual yearbook since 1951. The first edition was published in

Lugano, Switzerland Lugano ( , , ; ) is a city and municipality within the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It is the largest city in both Ticino and the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland. Lugano has a population () of , and an u ...

, titled ''The 1951 A.T.F.S. International Athletic Annual''. The editors were Fulvio Regli and Roberto Quercetani. It is an authoritative compilation of international athletics statistics and has been known as ''The International Athletics Annual'' and ''The ATFS Annual''. It is currently published under the title of ''Athletics: The International Track and Field Annual'' and its editor is Peter Matthews.

Roberto Quercetani

Roberto Luigi Quercetani (known as RLQ to other track and field statisticians)was one of the eleven founding members of ATFS and was also its first president, remaining in the position for 18 years. About A.T.F.S., Association of Track and Field Statisticians.'The 90 Years of Robert L. Quercetani'
Federaziona Italiana de Atletica Leggera He was also the editor of the first ''ATFS Annual''. and is a renowned historian and writer on athletics Quercetani was born in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, Italy on May 3, 1922. He was interested in both foreign languages and

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

from an early age, his study in both helped by reading foreign newspapers sent by friends from Switzerland. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he served as a technical interpreter for the allied forces in Italy. Now fluent in English, French and German, he started writing articles for the foreign sporting publications '' Leichathletik'' of Germany, ''World Sports'' of the UK, and ''

Track and Field News ''Track & Field News'' is an American monthly sports magazine founded in 1948 by brothers Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, focused on the world of track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includ ...

'' of the United States. In 1948, he wrote his first athletics statistical publication (with Don Potts). From 1951, Quercetani started as a long-time contributor to the Italian newspapers ''

La Gazzetta dello Sport (; English: "The Sports Gazette") is an Italian Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper dedicated to coverage of various sports. Founded in 1896, it is the most widely read daily newspaper of any type in Italy (in 2018). History and profile was fou ...

'' and ''La Nazione''. In 1964 his first of many books on athletics was published: ''A World History of Track and Field Athletics 1864-1964''. He has since added a number of titles that cover the history of most of the events of athletics. In 1994, he was founder member, and president until 1998, of the Archivo Storico Dell'Atletica Italiana "Bruno Bonomelli", an Italian non-profit-making cultural association dedicated to the history of Italian athletics. In 2010, under the chairmanship of

Mel Watman Mel, Mels or MEL may refer to: Biology * Mouse erythroleukemia cell line (MEL) * National Herbarium of Victoria, a herbarium with the Index Herbariorum code MEL People * Mel (given name), the abbreviated version of several given names (including ...

, Quercetani was invited, as an acknowledged industry expert, to help write the book to celebrate the 2012 centenary of the governing body of athletics, the

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

. In 2012, in acknowledgement of his life's achievements, Quercetani was awarded by the IAAF the IAAF Veteran Pin, their most important award. Quercetani died on May 13, 2019, at the age of 97. He was survived by his wife Maria Luisa.

Don Potts

Donald H. Potts was born December 13, 1921. A degree in physics and a doctorate in mathematics led to a creer in industry and academia, including being professor of mathematics at

Cal State Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge), is a public university in the Northridge, Los Angeles, Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. With a total enrollment of 36,848 students (as o ...

from 1965 to 1991. An avid track fan from a young age, he and Roberto Quercetani compiled from 1948 the renowned annual world rankings in

. He was a co-founder of ATFS and of the Federation of American Statisticians of Track (with Scott Davis and Stan Eales). He died November 1, 2001, in

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...

Executive committee members (until 2016)

* President: Paul Jenes (

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

) * Vice President: A. Lennart Julin (

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

) * Treasurer:

Tom Casacky Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name. Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Tom'' (1973 film), or ''The Bad Bunch'', a blaxploitation film * ''Tom'' (2002 film) ...

(United States) * Secretary: Michael McLaughlin (

) * Committee members: Roberto Quercetani (

), Rooney Magnusson (

Bernard Linley Bernard (''Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It has West Germanic origin and is also a surname. The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''bern ...

(

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

), Peter Matthews ( UK),

Yves Pinaud Yves may refer to: * Yves, Charente-Maritime, a commune of the Charente-Maritime department in France * ''Yves'' (single album), a single album by Loona * ''Yves'' (film), a 2019 French film People * Yves (given name), including a list of pe ...

(

), Riel Hauman (

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

), Yoshimasa Noguchi (

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

), Eduardo Biscayart (United States), Giuseppe Mappa (

Nejat Kök Nejat (and its variants Necat, Nexhat and Nedžad) is a Turkish male name of Persian origin. The name is found in the Turkish, Albanian and Bosnian languages. The name derived from the Persian word "Nezhad or Nijâd " meaning "race and nobility". ...

(

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

)

Executive committee members (2021)

* Secretary: Michael McLaughlin (

)

Awards

The World Athletics Heritage Plaque for (a) Legend, and (b) Culture was started in 2023. Winners were Roberto Luigi Quercetani and ATFS.World Athletics, 2 Jun 202

Retrieved 2023-06-02.

References

External links

ATFS older website that is still active

ATFS website
{{Authority control Statistical societies Track and field organizations