IAAF World Championships in Athletics

IAAF World Championships in Athletics

Sport	Athletics
Founded	1983
No. of teams	200 (2007), 202 (2009), 204 (2011)
Continent	International (IAAF)
Most recent champion(s)	Last winners lists
TV partner(s)	SBS Two (Australia) Eurovision (Europe) TBS (Japan) NBC Universal (United States)

The World Championships in Athletics is an event organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). Originally, it was organised every four years, but this changed in 1991, and it has since been organised biennially.

History

The idea of having an Athletics World Championships was around well before the competition's first event in 1983. In 1913, the IAAF decided that the Olympic Games would serve as the World Championships for athletics. This was considered suitable for over 50 years until in the late 1960s the desire of many IAAF members to have their own World Championships began to grow. In 1976 at the IAAF Council Meeting in Puerto Rico an Athletics World Championships separate from the Olympic Games was approved.

Following bids from both Stuttgart, West Germany and Helsinki, Finland, the IAAF Council awarded the inaugural competition to Helsinki, to take place in 1983 and be held in the Helsinki Olympic Stadium (where the 1952 Summer Olympics were held).

Over the years the competition has grown in size. In 1983 an estimated 1,300 athletes from 154 countries participated. By the 2003 competition, in Paris, it had grown to 1,907 athletes from 203 countries with coverage being transmitted to 179 different countries.

There has also been a change in the schedule over the years, with several new events, all for women, being added. By 2005 the schedule for men and women was almost equal. The only differences being the men had the extra event of the 50 km Walk, while women competed in the 100 m hurdles and heptathlon compared to the men in the 110 m hurdles and decathlon respectively.

The following list shows when new events were added for the first time.

• 1987, women's 10,000 m and 10 km walk were added.
• 1993, women's triple jump was added.
• 1995, women's 5000 m was added, replacing the 3000 m race.
• 1999, women's pole vault and hammer were added and the women's 20 km walk replaced the 10 km walk.
• 2005, women's 3000 m steeplechase was added.

Championships

Further information: World Championship records, Men's medalists, and Women's medalists

Edition	Year	City	Country	Date	Venue	No. of Events	No. of Athletes
1st	1983 ()	Helsinki	Finland	7 Aug – 14 Aug	Olympiastadion	41	1,355
2nd	1987 ()	Rome	Italy	28 Aug – 6 Sept	Stadio Olimpico	43	1,451
3rd	1991 ()	Tokyo	Japan	23 Aug – 1 Sept	National Olympic Stadium	43	1,517
4th	1993 ()	Stuttgart	Germany	13 Aug – 22 Aug	Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion	44	1,689
5th	1995 ()	Gothenburg	Sweden	5 Aug – 13 Aug	Ullevi	44	1,804
6th	1997 ()	Athens	Greece	1 Aug – 10 Aug	Olympiako Stadio	44	1,882
7th	1999 ()	Seville	Spain	20 Aug – 29 Aug	Estadio Olímpico de la Cartuja	46	1,821
8th	2001 ()	Edmonton	Canada	3 Aug – 12 Aug	Commonwealth Stadium	46	1,677
9th	2003 ()	Saint-Denis	France	23 Aug – 31 Aug	Stade de France	46	1,679
10th	2005 ()	Helsinki	Finland	6 Aug – 14 Aug	Olympiastadion	47	1,688
11th	2007 ()	Osaka	Japan	24 Aug – 2 Sept	Nagai Stadium	47	1,800
12th	2009 ()	Berlin	Germany	15 Aug – 23 Aug	Olympiastadion	47	1,895
13th	2011 ()	Daegu	South Korea	27 Aug – 4 Sept	Daegu Stadium	47	1,867
14th	2013 ()	Moscow	Russia	10 Aug – 18 Aug	Luzhniki Stadium
15th	2015 ()	Beijing	China	22 Aug – 30 Aug	Beijing National Stadium
16th	2017 ()	London	United Kingdom	5 Aug – 13 Aug	Olympic Stadium

Medal totals since 1983

Updated after 2011 Championships

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	132	74	69	275
2	Russia	46	56	49	151
3	Kenya	38	33	29	100
4	Germany	31	26	37	94
5	Soviet Union	22	25	28	75
6	East Germany	20	18	15	53
7	Ethiopia	19	16	19	54
8	Jamaica	18	40	31	89
9	Great Britain and N.I.	18	29	29	76
10	Cuba	18	21	10	49
11	Italy	11	14	13	38
12	Poland	11	8	13	32
13	Belarus	10	12	13	34
14	Morocco	10	11	6	27
15	China	10	10	11	31
16	Australia	10	6	11	27
17	Czech Republic	10	5	3	18
18	France	9	13	17	39
19	Ukraine	9	9	12	30
20	Spain	7	15	14	36
21	Finland	7	7	5	19
22	South Africa	7	6	3	16
23	Sweden	7	3	5	15
24	Norway	6	5	2	13
25	Algeria	6	0	3	9
26	Romania	5	8	9	22
27	Bahamas	5	7	6	18
28	Portugal	5	6	5	16
29	Bulgaria	5	3	7	15
30	Bahrain	5	1	1	7
31	Canada	4	9	5	18
32	Japan	4	6	11	21
33	Greece	4	5	10	19
34	Czechoslovakia	4	4	3	11
35	New Zealand	4	0	1	5
36	Switzerland	4	0	3	7
37	Mexico	3	1	7	11
38	Mozambique	3	1	1	5
39	Ecuador	3	1	0	4
40	Denmark	3	0	1	4
41	Estonia	2	4	1	7
42	Ireland	2	3	0	5
43	Lithuania	2	2	1	5
44	Qatar	2	1	1	4
45	Dominican Republic	2	1	0	3
46	Croatia	2	1	0	3
47	Tajikistan	2	0	0	2
48	Brazil	1	5	5	11
49	Trinidad and Tobago	1	4	5	10
50	Namibia	1	4	0	5
51	Netherlands	1	3	3	7
52	Zambia	1	2	0	3
53	Slovenia	1	1	2	4
54	Uganda	1	1	1	3
55	Panama	1	1	0	2
56	Saint Kitts and Nevis	1	0	4	5
57	Senegal	1	0	1	2
57	Somalia	1	0	1	2
57	Syria	1	0	1	2
60	Barbados	1	0	0	1
60	Botswana	1	0	0	1
60	Grenada	1	0	0	1
60	North Korea	1	0	0	1
63	Hungary	0	5	5	10
64	Kazakhstan	0	3	3	6
64	Nigeria	0	3	3	6
66	Turkey	0	2	1	3
67	Djibouti	0	2	0	2
67	Cameroon	0	2	0	2
67	Puerto Rico	0	2	0	2
70	Austria	0	1	1	2
70	Burundi	0	1	1	2
70	Cyprus	0	1	1	2
70	Ghana	0	1	1	2
70	Israel	0	1	1	2
70	Sri Lanka	0	1	1	2
70	Suriname	0	1	1	2
70	Tunisia	0	1	1	2
78	Bermuda	0	1	0	1
79	Eritrea	0	1	0	1
80	Sudan	0	1	0	1
80	Tanzania	0	1	0	1
82	Belgium	0	0	4	4
83	Slovakia	0	0	3	3
84	Colombia	0	0	2	2
85	American Samoa	0	0	1	1
85	Dominica	0	0	1	1
85	Haiti	0	0	1	1
85	India	0	0	1	1
85	Iran	0	0	1	1
85	Latvia	0	0	1	1
85	Saudi Arabia	0	0	1	1
85	Zimbabwe	0	0	1	1
92	Total	585	589	582	1756

• NOTE: Germany refers both to the former West Germany (1983–90) and the unified Federal Republic of Germany (1990–present).

Ceremonies

The opening and closing ceremonies of the 8th IAAF World Championships held in Edmonton in 2001 were broadcast live to over 200 countries. The event included the men's marathon, and featured a thousand voice choir and original music by The Second City alumni Jan Randall.

Multiple medallist

Men

There are twelve athletes who have won at least six medals.

Athlete	Country				Tot.
Carl Lewis	United States	8	1	1	10
Michael Johnson	United States	8	0	0	8
Usain Bolt	Jamaica	5	2	0	7
Haile Gebrselassie	Ethiopia	4	2	1	7
Sergey Bubka	Soviet Union/Ukraine	6	0	0	6
Kenenisa Bekele	Ethiopia	5	0	1	6
Jeremy Wariner	United States	5	1	0	6
Lars Riedel	Germany	5	0	1	6
Hicham El Guerrouj	Morocco	4	2	0	6
LaShawn Merritt	United States	4	2	0	6
Butch Reynolds	United States	3	2	1	6
Greg Haughton	Jamaica	0	4	2	6

Women

There are eleven athletes who have won at least six medals.

Athlete	Country				Tot.
Merlene Ottey	Jamaica	3	4	7	14
Allyson Felix	United States	8	1	1	10
Jearl Miles Clark	United States	4	3	2	9
Veronica Campbell-Brown	Jamaica	2	7	0	9
Gail Devers	United States	5	3	0	8
Gwen Torrence	United States	3	4	1	8
Yuliya Pechonkina	Russia	2	3	2	7
Beverly McDonald	Jamaica	1	4	2	7
Lorraine Graham	Jamaica	1	3	3	7
Sanya Richards-Ross	United States	5	1	0	6
Carmelita Jeter	United States	3	1	2	6

Athletes with most appearances

There are fourteen athletes that competed in at least eight editions.

App.	Name	Country	Years contested	Events
11	Susana Feitor	Portugal	91, 93, 95, 97, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09, 11	10 km walk / 20 km walk
10	Franka Dietzsch	Germany	91, 93, 95, 97, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09	Discus throw
	Jesús Angel García	Spain	93, 95, 97, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09, 11	50 km walk
9	Tim Berrett	Canada	91, 93, 95, 97, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07	20 km walk / 50 km walk
	Maria Mutola	Mozambique	91, 93, 95, 97, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07	800 m
	Danny McFarlane	Jamaica	93, 95, 97, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09	400 m / 400 m hurdles / 4x400 m
8	Jan Zelezny	Czechoslovakia / Czech Republic	87, 91, 93, 95, 97, 99, 01, 03	Javelin throw
	Lars Riedel	Germany	91, 93, 95, 97, 99, 01, 03, 05	Discus throw
	Hatem Ghoula	Tunisia	93, 95, 97, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07	20 km walk
	Merlene Ottey	Jamaica / Slovenia	83, 87, 91, 93, 95, 97, 03, 07	100 m / 200 m / 4x100 m
	Kevin Sullivan	Canada	93, 95, 97, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07	1500 m
	Nicola Vizzoni	Italy	97, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09, 11	Hammer throw
	Sergey Makarov	Russia	97, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09, 11	Javelin throw
	Venelina Veneva	Bulgaria	91, 95, 99, 01, 03, 05, 09, 11	High Jump

Other Athletics World Championship events

Prior to the inaugural IAAF World Championships in Helsinki in 1983 there had been several single events and races in the years leading up to them which were considered World Championships in those events. These consisted of non-Olympic events for which the Olympics didn't provide the opportunity for the holding of World Championships. Below are the medal winners from these events.

1976 (Malmö, Sweden)

Games	Gold		Silver		Bronze
50 km walk (Men)	Veniamin Soldatenko USSR	3:54:40	Enrique Vera Mexico	3:58:14	Reima Salonen Finland	3:58:53

1980 (Sittard, Netherlands)

Games	Gold		Silver		Bronze
3000 m (Women)	Brigit Friedmann West Germany	8:48.05	Karoline Nemetz Sweden	8:50.22	Ingrid Kristiansen Norway	8:58.80
400 m hurdles (Women)	Bärbel Broschat East Germany	54.55	Ellen Neumann East Germany	54.56	Petra Pfaff East Germany	55.84

See also

• IAAF Hall of Fame
• IAAF Athlete of the Year
• International Athletics Championships and Games
• IPC Athletics World Championships
• List of World Championships in Athletics medalists (men)
• List of World Championships in Athletics medalists (women)

External links

• Results of past World Championships
• Official Site of the 2011 IAAF World Championships in Athletics - Daegu
• Track and Field Results Almanac