Association of Track and Field Statisticians

The Association of Track and Field Statisticians (ATFS) was founded in 1950. It is an international organization run by volunteers whose goal is to collect and disseminate the statistics of track and field athletics.

The association has published an annual yearbook since 1951. The first edition was published in Lugano, Switzerland, and titled The 1951 A.T.F.S. International Athletic Annual. The editors were Fulvio Regli and Roberto Quercetani. It is an authoritative compilation of international athletics statistics and has been known as The International Athletics Annual and "The A.T.F.S. Annual". It is currently published under the title of Athletics: The International Track and Field Annual and the current editor is Peter Matthews.

President: Roberto Quercetani (Italy)

Secretary: Fulvio Regli (Switzerland)

Committee: Norris McWhirter (UK), Donald Potts (USA)

Members: Harold Abrahams (UK) - Hon. President, Bruno Bonomelli (Italy), André Greuze (Belgium), Erich Kamper (Austria), Ekkehard zur Megede (Germany), André Senay (France), Björn-Johan Weckman (Finland), Wolfgang Wünsche (Germany)

Roberto Luigi Quercetani was one of the eleven founding members of the Association of Track and Field Statisticians (ATFS) and was also its first president, remaining in the position for 18 years. In addition, he was the editor of the first ATFS annual. and is a renowned historian and writer on athletics

Roberto Quercetani was born in Florence, Italy on May 3, 1922. He was interested in both foreign languages and athletics from an early age, his study in both helped by reading foreign newspapers sent by friends from Switzerland. After World War II, he served as a technical interpreter for the allied forces in Italy. Now fluent in English, French and German he started writing articles for the foreign sporting publications Leichathletik of Germany, World Sports of the UK, and Track and Field News of the United States.

In 1948, he wrote his first athletics statistical publication (with Don Potts).

From 1951, Quercetani started as a long-time contributor to the Italian newspapers La Gazzetta dello Sport and La Nazione.

...
Wikipedia