The International Association of Athletics Federations is the governing body for Athletics.

Its major compettions are the World Atheltics Championships for outdoor and indoor track and field athletics, the World Cross Country Championships, The World Half Marathon Championships and the World Junior Athletics Championships. The IAAF also runs the Golden League athletics series, now (since 2010) The Diamond League, which is a worldwide series of one-off athletics meetings.

Many of the meetings above are the only time the top athletics athletes meet outside of Summer Olympic Games