From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1st World Championships in Athletics
Host city Helsinki, Finland
Nations153
Athletes1,355
Events41
Dates7–14 August 1983
Opened by President Mauno Koivisto
Main venue Helsinki Olympic Stadium

The 1st World Championships in Athletics ( Finnish: Yleisurheilun maailmanmestaruuskilpailut 1983; Swedish: Världsmästerskapen i friidrott 1983) were run under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations and were held at the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki, Finland between 7 and 14 August 1983.

Summary

The championships at Helsinki Olympic Stadium, August 1983
Carl Lewis at the championships

The overall medal table was a closely contested affair. East Germany took the most gold medals (10) over the first championships and finished with a total of 22 medals. The United States had the next largest number of golds, with eight, and also had the greatest overall medal haul, having won 24 medals altogether. The Soviet Union won one more medal than the East Germans and had six golds, although almost half of their podium finishers were bronze medalists. Twenty-five nations reached the medal tally at the inaugural competition, with all six continents being represented. During the early 1980s this was the top venue in which Soviet Bloc athletes competed against American athletes due to the American-led boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow and the retaliatory Soviet Bloc boycott of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Carl Lewis won both the 100 metres and the long jump, and finished the competition by anchoring the 4×100 metres relay team to a world record time, along with the 200 metres champion Calvin Smith, and bronze medallists Emmit King and Willie Gault. Jarmila Kratochvílová dominated the 400 metres and 800 metres events, setting a world record of 47.99 seconds. Mary Decker enjoyed her best competition performance, taking the golds in the women's 1500 metres and 3000 metres. Other prominent athletes included Marita Koch, who won the 200 m and both relay golds, as well as the 100 m silver medal. Sergey Bubka won the first of his six consecutive World Championship gold medals in the pole vault.

Men's results

Track

postage stamp from Finland issued in 1983

1983 | 1987 | 1991 | 1993 | 1995

Games Gold Silver Bronze
100 m
details
Carl Lewis
  United States
10.07 Calvin Smith
  United States
10.21 Emmit King
  United States
10.24
200 m
details
Calvin Smith
  United States
20.14 Elliott Quow
  United States
20.41 Pietro Mennea
  Italy
20.51
400 m
details
Bert Cameron
  Jamaica
45.05 Michael Franks
  United States
45.22 Sunder Nix
  United States
45.24
800 m
details
Willi Wülbeck
  West Germany
1:43.65 Rob Druppers
  Netherlands
1:44.20 Joaquim Cruz
  Brazil
1:44.27
1,500 m
details
Steve Cram
  Great Britain
3:41.59 Steve Scott
  United States
3:41.87 Saïd Aouita
  Morocco
3:42.02
5,000 m
details
Eamonn Coghlan
  Ireland
13:28.53 Werner Schildhauer
  East Germany
13:30.20 Martti Vainio
  Finland
13:30.34
10,000 m
details
Alberto Cova
  Italy
28:01.04 Werner Schildhauer
  East Germany
28:01.18 Hansjörg Kunze
  East Germany
28:01.26
Marathon
details
Rob de Castella
  Australia
2:10:03 Kebede Balcha
  Ethiopia
2:10:27 Waldemar Cierpinski
  East Germany
2:10:37
110 m hurdles
details
Greg Foster
  United States
13.42 Arto Bryggare
  Finland
13.46 Willie Gault
  United States
13.48
400 m hurdles
details
Edwin Moses
  United States
47.50 Harald Schmid
  West Germany
48.61 Aleksandr Kharlov
  Soviet Union
49.03
3,000 m st.
details
Patriz Ilg
  West Germany
8:15.06 Bogusław Mamiński
  Poland
8:17.03 Colin Reitz
  Great Britain
8:17.75
20 km walk
details
Ernesto Canto
  Mexico
1:20:49 Jozef Pribilinec
  Czechoslovakia
1:20:59 Yevgeniy Yevsyukov
  Soviet Union
1:21:08
50 km walk
details
Ronald Weigel
  East Germany
3:43:08 José Marín
  Spain
3:46:32 Sergey Yung
  Soviet Union
3:49:03
4 × 100 m relay
details
  United States (USA)
Emmit King
Willie Gault
Calvin Smith
Carl Lewis
37.86
(WR)
  Italy (ITA)
Stefano Tilli
Carlo Simionato
Pierfrancesco Pavoni
Pietro Mennea
38.37
(NR)
  Soviet Union (URS)
Andrey Prokofyev
Nikolay Sidorov
Vladimir Muravyov
Viktor Bryzgin
38.41
4 × 400 m relay
details
  Soviet Union (URS)
Sergey Lovachov
Aleksandr Troshchilo
Nikolay Chernetskiy
Viktor Markin
3:00.79   West Germany (FRG)
Erwin Skamrahl
Jörg Vaihinger
Harald Schmid
Hartmut Weber
Martin Weppler*
Edgar Nakladal*
3:01.83   Great Britain (GBR)
Ainsley Bennett
Garry Cook
Todd Bennett
Phil Brown
Kriss Akabusi*
3:03.53
WR world record | AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season)

Note: * Indicates athletes who ran in preliminary rounds.

Field

1983 | 1987 | 1991 | 1993 | 1995

Games Gold Silver Bronze
High jump
details
Hennadiy Avdyeyenko
  Soviet Union
2.32 Tyke Peacock
  United States
2.32 Zhu Jianhua
  China
2.29
Pole vault
details
Sergey Bubka
  Soviet Union
5.70 Konstantin Volkov
  Soviet Union
5.60 Atanas Tarev
  Bulgaria
5.60
Long jump
details
Carl Lewis
  United States
8.55 Jason Grimes
  United States
8.29 Mike Conley
  United States
8.12
Triple jump
details
Zdzisław Hoffmann
  Poland
17.42 Willie Banks
  United States
17.18 Ajayi Agbebaku
  Nigeria
17.18
Shot put
details
Edward Sarul
  Poland
21.39 Ulf Timmermann
  East Germany
21.16 Remigius Machura
  Czechoslovakia
20.98
Discus throw
details
Imrich Bugár
  Czechoslovakia
67.72 Luis Delís
  Cuba
67.36 Géjza Valent
  Czechoslovakia
66.08
Hammer throw
details
Sergey Litvinov
  Soviet Union
82.68 Yuriy Sedykh
  Soviet Union
80.94 Zdzisław Kwaśny
  Poland
79.42
Javelin throw
details
Detlef Michel
  East Germany
89.48 Tom Petranoff
  United States
85.60 Dainis Kūla
  Soviet Union
85.58
Decathlon
details
Daley Thompson
  Great Britain
8666 Jürgen Hingsen
  West Germany
8561 Siegfried Wentz
  West Germany
8478
WR world record | AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season)

Women's results

Track

1983 | 1987 | 1991 | 1993 | 1995

Games Gold Silver Bronze
100 m
details
Marlies Göhr
  East Germany
10.97
(CR)
Marita Koch
  East Germany
11.02 Diane Williams
  United States
11.06
200 m
details
Marita Koch
  East Germany
22.13 Merlene Ottey
  Jamaica
22.19 Kathy Cook
  Great Britain
22.37
400 m
details
Jarmila Kratochvílová
  Czechoslovakia
47.99
(WR)
Taťána Kocembová
  Czechoslovakia
48.59
(PB)
Mariya Pinigina
  Soviet Union
49.19
800 m
details
Jarmila Kratochvílová
  Czechoslovakia
1:54.68 Lyubov Gurina
  Soviet Union
1:56.11 Yekaterina Podkopayeva
  Soviet Union
1:57.58
1,500 m
details
Mary Decker
  United States
4:00.90 Zamira Zaytseva
  Soviet Union
4:01.19 Yekaterina Podkopayeva
  Soviet Union
4:02.25
3,000 m
details
Mary Decker
  United States
8:34.62 Brigitte Kraus
  West Germany
8:35.11 Tatyana Kazankina
  Soviet Union
8:35.13
Marathon
details
Grete Waitz
  Norway
2:28:09 Marianne Dickerson
  United States
2:31:09 Raisa Smekhnova
  Soviet Union
2:31:13
100 m hurdles
details
Bettine Jahn
  East Germany
12.35 Kerstin Knabe
  East Germany
12.42 Ginka Zagorcheva
  Bulgaria
12.62
400 m hurdles
details
Yekaterina Fesenko
  Soviet Union
54.14 Ana Ambrazienė
  Soviet Union
54.15 Ellen Fiedler
  East Germany
54.55
4 × 100 m relay
details
  East Germany (GDR)
Silke Gladisch
Marita Koch
Ingrid Auerswald
Marlies Göhr
41.76   Great Britain (GBR)
Joan Baptiste
Kathy Cook
Beverley Callender
Shirley Thomas
42.71   Jamaica (JAM)
Leleith Hodges
Jacqueline Pusey
Juliet Cuthbert
Merlene Ottey
42.73
4 × 400 m relay
details
  East Germany (GDR)
Kerstin Walther
Sabine Busch
Marita Koch
Dagmar Rübsam
Undine Bremer*
Ellen Fiedler*
3:19.73   Czechoslovakia (TCH)
Taťána Kocembová
Milena Matějkovičová
Zuzana Moravčíková
Jarmila Kratochvílová
3:20.32   Soviet Union (URS)
Yelena Korban
Marina Ivanova
Irina Baskakova
Mariya Pinigina
3:21.16
WR world record | AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season)

Note: * Indicates athletes who ran in preliminary rounds.

Field

1983 | 1987 | 1991 | 1993 | 1995

Games Gold Silver Bronze
High jump
details
Tamara Bykova
  Soviet Union
2.01 Ulrike Meyfarth
  West Germany
1.99 Louise Ritter
  United States
1.95
Long jump
details
Heike Daute
  East Germany
7.27 Anişoara Cuşmir
  Romania
7.15 Carol Lewis
  United States
7.04
Shot put
details
Helena Fibingerová
  Czechoslovakia
21.05 Helma Knorscheidt
  East Germany
20.70 Ilona Slupianek
  East Germany
20.56
Discus throw
details
Martina Opitz
  East Germany
68.94 Galina Murasova
  Soviet Union
67.44 Mariya Petkova
  Bulgaria
66.44
Javelin throw
details
Tiina Lillak
  Finland
70.82 Fatima Whitbread
  Great Britain
69.14 Anna Verouli
  Greece
65.72
Heptathlon
details
Ramona Neubert
  East Germany
6714 Sabine Paetz
  East Germany
6662 Anke Vater
  East Germany
6532
WR world record | AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season)

Medal table

Marathon bronze medallist and reigning Olympic champion Waldemar Cierpinski (DDR) celebrates with gold medal winner Robert de Castella (AUS).

  *   Host nation ( Finland)

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1  East Germany (GDR)107522
2  United States (USA)89724
3  Soviet Union (URS)661123
4  Czechoslovakia (TCH)4329
5  West Germany (FRG)2518
6  Great Britain (GBR)2237
7  Poland (POL)2114
8  Finland (FIN)*1113
  Italy (ITA)1113
  Jamaica (JAM)1113
11  Australia (AUS)1001
  Ireland (IRL)1001
  Mexico (MEX)1001
  Norway (NOR)1001
15  Cuba (CUB)0101
  Ethiopia (ETH)0101
  Netherlands (NED)0101
  Romania (ROU)0101
  Spain (ESP)0101
20  Bulgaria (BUL)0033
21  Brazil (BRA)0011
  China (CHN)0011
  Greece (GRE)0011
  Morocco (MAR)0011
  Nigeria (NGR)0011
Totals (25 entries)414141123
Source: [1]

See also

References

External links

Media related to 1983 World Championships in Athletics at Wikimedia Commons