Glasgow 2014: Cheat sheet for the athletics events

The sport in brief

Track and field athletics has appeared in every Commonwealth Games to date. Unsurprisingly, given there are 50 gold medals on offer, it will have the greatest number of competitors with over 1,000 athletes descending on Hampden Park.

Home Nations prospects

In the absence of Mo Farah and Katarina Johnson-Thompson, who are out through illness and injury, England will be looking to the likes of 100m hurdler Tiffany Porter and London 2012 long jump gold medallist Greg Rutherford to win medals.

Distance runners Jessica Judd (800m) and Laura Weightman (1500m) will also be hoping for success along with 100m sprinter Adam Gemili.

Scotland will be willing Eilidh Child to upgrade her Delhi 400m hurdles silver into Glasgow gold, while London 2012's four-time Paralympic champion David Weir will attempt to win the T54 1500m title with Wales captain Aled Davies targeting a win in the F42/44 discus.

Commonwealth class acts

Blink and you'll miss Usain Bolt. The Jamaican six-time Olympic champion is only running the 4x100m relay, as is fellow Olympic champion and compatriot Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.

Kenya's David Rudisha is back on British soil two years after lighting up London 2012 with his world record run to win 800m gold.

New Zealand's multiple world and Olympic champion Valerie Adams is a shot put shoo-in, while Australia's Olympic 100m hurdles gold medallist Sally Pearson plans to also run in the sprint.

What's new for Glasgow 2014?

The list of para-sport events has been tweaked and now features 100m and 1500m races for both sexes, plus men's discus and women's long jump.

Pub bore

Nigerian high jumper Emmanuel Ifeajuna was the first black African to win a gold medal at a major international sporting event when he triumphed at the 1954 Games in Vancouver - and he did so wearing one shoe.

He didn't compete again and got involved with politics - inadvertently starting a civil war and later being executed for trying to stop it.

Best medal performances by the Home Nations

England: 184 gold medals (including seven in 2010: Leon Baptiste, 200m; Andy Turner, 110m hurdles; men's 4x100m relay; women's 4x100m relay; Johanna Jackson, 20km walk; Louise Hazel, heptathlon; Katrina Hart T37 100m)

Northern Ireland: Seven gold medals (most recently Philip Beattie, 400m hurdles, 1986)

Scotland: 17 gold medals (most recently Yvonne Murray, 10,000m, 1994)

Wales: 14 gold medals (most recently Dai Greene, 400m hurdles, 2010)