Athletics in Australia - Athletics Venues in Australia

Athletics Venues in Australia

Athletics is conducted in most major centres in Australia, with a number of notable tracks:

• Lakeside Stadium - Melbourne's main venue for athletics
• Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre (formerly QEII Stadium) - hosted the 1982 Commonwealth Games
• Sydney International Athletics Centre - the warm-up track for the 2000 Sydney Olympics and host of the World Junior Championships
• Santos Stadium - since 1998 the main venue for athletics in Adelaide, South Australia

A large number of tracks originally established for athletics have since been converted to use by other sports:

• Sydney Cricket Ground - main venue of the 1938 British Empire Games
• Melbourne Cricket Ground - main venue of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and 2006 Commonwealth Games athletics events.
• Perry Lakes Stadium - main venue of the 1962 Commonwealth Games in Perth, Western Australia
• Kensington Oval (formerly Olympic Sports Field) - from 1965 to 1998, the home of South Australian athletics
• Bruce Stadium - host to the 1985 IAAF World Cup in Athletics - where two world records were set that still stand in 2008.
• Stadium Australia - host of the 2000 Sydney Olympics athletics events
• Olympic Park Stadium - the home of athletics from 1956 to 2011 in Victoria and the site of numerous world records

Other significant former athletics venues in Australia include:

• Sydney Sports Ground, Moore Park and Pratten Park in Sydney
• Royal Park and St. Kilda Cricket Ground in Melbourne
• Adelaide Oval, Norwood Oval, and Wayville Showgrounds in Adelaide
• Exhibition Ground, Bowen Park, Brisbane and Lang Park in Brisbane
• Leederville Oval in Perth
• North Hobart Oval in Hobart

A specially constructed Cross country facility was opened at Canberra in November 2007. Named as the 'Stromlo Forest Park Robert de Castella cross-country track', this venue hosted the 2008 Australian Cross-Country trials.