Attributes

Every athlete is defined by a set of attributes — the numbers behind how fast, strong, and dependable they are. Two athletes in the same discipline can look completely different under the hood, and learning to read those differences is most of the game.

Physical attributes

These decide raw ability. How much each one matters depends on the discipline — a sprinter lives on speed, a thrower on strength.

Attribute	What it does
Speed	Top-end velocity once an athlete is up and running. The engine of the flat sprints.
Acceleration	How quickly they reach top speed — the explosive first strides out of the blocks.
Explosiveness	Instant power in a single effort. Drives jump take-offs, throws, and the sprint drive phase.
Strength	Raw physical power. Dominant in the throws and a foundation for explosive events.
Endurance	The ability to sustain effort. The backbone of everything from the 800m up to the marathon.
Flexibility	Range of motion. Matters most in the hurdles, high jump, and other technical events.
Coordination	Body control and clean technique. Key wherever movement is complex — hurdles, jumps, throws.

Alongside these, each athlete builds technical skill in individual disciplines — event-specific mastery that grows the more they compete in that event.

Mental attributes

The physical tools set the ceiling; the mental attributes decide how reliably an athlete reaches it, especially when it counts.

Attribute	What it does
Composure	How an athlete performs when the pressure rises — in final rounds and bigger competitions.
Reliability	Day-to-day consistency. High reliability means fewer off days and performances closer to their true level.
Determination	The will to grind through hard efforts. Tells most in the punishing distance events — and in training.
Intelligence	Race craft and decision-making. Rewards the tactical events, and helps an athlete learn faster.

Hidden qualities

Not everything about an athlete is on the sheet. Some qualities are hidden and have to be guessed over time — how high they can climb, how fast they get there, and how long their prime lasts. These are covered in Potential & development.

Next: see which disciplines and families these attributes feed into.