World’s Fastest Human. That is the title bestowed on the man with the best time in the 100 meter dash. This event is the centerpiece of track and field, the collective name for events that are based on running, jumping and throwing. Who is the fastest? Who can jump the highest? Who can throw the farthest? These are the questions men have been challenging each other to answer for centuries. The World’s Fastest Human was Jamaica’s Usain Bolt in 2015, but for nearly 100 years, women have taken up the challenge as well. Female stars like Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Yelena Isinbayeva have inspired little girls to dream of running faster and jumping higher over the decades. Those girls have grown into the stars of today, like Alyson Felix, Genzebe Dibaba and Barbora Špotáková. Each book in the Inside the World of Sports series takes you from the very beginning of a sport to a look at its future. Inside these pages, learn more about track and field’s greatest moments, iconic athletes, and what the future holds for the sport. Each title in this series contains color photos throughout and back matter including: a chronology, glossary of terms for each sport, an index, and further reading lists for books and internet resources. Key Icons appear throughout the books in this series in an effort to encourage library readers to build knowledge, gain awareness, explore possibilities and expand their viewpoints through our content rich non-fiction books. Key Icons in this series are as follows: Educational Videos are offered throughout the first chapter, through the use of a QR code that when scanned takes the student to an online video showing a greatest moment in sports’ history. This gives the readers additional content to supplement the text. Words to Understand are shown at the front of each chapter with definitions. These words are set in boldfaced type in that chapter, so that readers are able to reference back to the definitions--building their vocabulary and enhancing their reading comprehension. Text-Dependent Questions are placed at the end of each chapter. They challenge the reader’s comprehension of the chapter they have just read, while sending the reader back to the text for more careful attention to the evidence presented there. Research Projects are provided at the end of each chapter as well and provide readers with suggestions for projects that encourage deeper research and analysis.
