Athletic means fit, strong and good at sport. An athletic build, athletic ability, remarkably athletic.
It describes both a body type and a capability, and of a performance it means physically impressive: an athletic save. In British club names, Athletic means the club was founded as an athletics club — Charlton Athletic, Wigan Athletic — even though they play football. Note athletics, which in Britain means track and field and in America means sport in general, which is a genuine source of confusion.
1adjectiveathleticFit, strong and good at sport.
“He is remarkably athletic for somebody of about sixty.”
2adjectivephysicallyPhysically impressive, of a movement.
“It was an athletic save and it went in anyway.”
athletic is a quality of physical fitness.
Greek athletes means a competitor for a prize, from athlos, a contest. The word arrived in English through Latin, and its Greek root is about the prize rather than the exercise.
Middle French
athletique
English, today
athletic
Built from
Borrowed from Middle French athletique. Middle French athletique and Latin āthlēticus, from Ancient Greek ἀθλητικός (“relating to an athlete”), from ἀθλητής (“athlete”): equivalent to athlete + -ic. For more, see athlete. The Super Mario sense is effectively a reborrowing of Japanese アスレチック (“obstacle course”), originally borrowed from English athletic; this sense was itself originally a clipping of the genericized wasei eigo trademark フィールドアスレチック (“Field Athletic”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA