1983 World Championships in Athletics

The 1st World Championships in Athletics (Template:Langx; Template:Langx) 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. Despite the existence of previously held championship events in both 1976 and 1980, this 1983 championship was marked as the inaugural World Championship.

Summary

File:Athletics-World-Championship-1983.jpg

The championships at Helsinki Olympic Stadium, August 1983

File:Carl Lewis Helsinki 1983.jpg

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 second number of gold medals, with eight, and also had the greatest overall medal haul, having won 24 medals. 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 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 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

File:Stamp of Finland - 1983 - Colnect 47017 - Running.jpeg

postage stamp from Finland issued in 1983

1983 | 1987 | 1991 | 1993 | 1995

Games	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 m Template:DetailsLink	Carl Lewis United States	10.07	Calvin Smith United States	10.21	Emmit King United States	10.24
200 m Template:DetailsLink	Calvin Smith United States	20.14	Elliott Quow United States	20.41	Pietro Mennea Italy	20.51
400 m Template:DetailsLink	Bert Cameron Jamaica	45.05	Michael Franks United States	45.22	Sunder Nix United States	45.24
800 m Template:DetailsLink	Willi Wülbeck West Germany	1:43.65	Rob Druppers Netherlands	1:44.20	Joaquim Cruz Brazil	1:44.27
1500 m Template:DetailsLink	Steve Cram Great Britain	3:41.59	Steve Scott United States	3:41.87	Saïd Aouita Morocco	3:42.02
5000 m Template:DetailsLink	Eamonn Coghlan Ireland	13:28.53	Werner Schildhauer East Germany	13:30.20	Martti Vainio Finland	13:30.34
10,000 m Template:DetailsLink	Alberto Cova Italy	28:01.04	Werner Schildhauer East Germany	28:01.18	Hansjörg Kunze East Germany	28:01.26
Marathon Template:DetailsLink	Rob de Castella Australia	2:10:03	Kebede Balcha Ethiopia	2:10:27	Waldemar Cierpinski East Germany	2:10:37
110 m hurdles Template:DetailsLink	Greg Foster United States	13.42	Arto Bryggare Finland	13.46	Willie Gault United States	13.48
400 m hurdles Template:DetailsLink	Edwin Moses United States	47.50	Harald Schmid West Germany	48.61	Aleksandr Kharlov Soviet Union	49.03
3000 m st. Template:DetailsLink	Patriz Ilg West Germany	8:15.06	Bogusław Mamiński Poland	8:17.03	Colin Reitz Great Britain	8:17.75
20 km walk Template:DetailsLink	Ernesto Canto Mexico	1:20:49	Jozef Pribilinec Czechoslovakia	1:20:59	Yevgeniy Yevsyukov Soviet Union	1:21:08
50 km walk Template:DetailsLink	Ronald Weigel East Germany	3:43:08	José Marín Spain	3:46:32	Sergey Yung Soviet Union	3:49:03
4 × 100 m relay Template:DetailsLink	Template:Flagteam Emmit King Willie Gault Calvin Smith Carl Lewis	37.86 (WR)	Template:Flagteam Stefano Tilli Carlo Simionato Pierfrancesco Pavoni Pietro Mennea	38.37 (NR)	Template:Flagteam Andrey Prokofyev Nikolay Sidorov Vladimir Muravyov Viktor Bryzgin	38.41
4 × 400 m relay Template:DetailsLink	Template:Flagteam Sergey Lovachov Aleksandr Troshchilo Nikolay Chernetskiy Viktor Markin	3:00.79	Template:Flagteam Erwin Skamrahl Jörg Vaihinger Harald Schmid Hartmut Weber Martin Weppler* Edgar Nakladal*	3:01.83	Template:Flagteam 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 Template:DetailsLink	Template:Flagmedalist	2.32	Template:Flagmedalist	2.32	Template:Flagmedalist	2.29
Pole vault Template:DetailsLink	Template:Flagmedalist	5.70	Template:Flagmedalist	5.60	Template:Flagmedalist	5.60
Long jump Template:DetailsLink	Template:Flagmedalist	8.55	Template:Flagmedalist	8.29	Template:Flagmedalist	8.12
Triple jump Template:DetailsLink	Template:Flagmedalist	17.42	Template:Flagmedalist	17.18	Template:Flagmedalist	17.18
Shot put Template:DetailsLink	Template:Flagmedalist	21.39	Template:Flagmedalist	21.16	Template:Flagmedalist	20.98
Discus throw Template:DetailsLink	Template:Flagmedalist	67.72	Template:Flagmedalist	67.36	Template:Flagmedalist	66.08
Hammer throw Template:DetailsLink	Template:Flagmedalist	82.68	Template:Flagmedalist	80.94	Template:Flagmedalist	79.42
Javelin throw Template:DetailsLink	Template:Flagmedalist	89.48	Template:Flagmedalist	85.60	Template:Flagmedalist	85.58
Decathlon Template:DetailsLink	Template:Flagmedalist	8666	Template:Flagmedalist	8561	Template:Flagmedalist	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 Template:DetailsLink	Template:Flagmedalist	10.97 (CR)	Template:Flagmedalist	11.02	Template:Flagmedalist	11.06
200 m Template:DetailsLink	Template:Flagmedalist	22.13	Template:Flagmedalist	22.19	Template:Flagmedalist	22.37
400 m Template:DetailsLink	Template:Flagmedalist	47.99 (WR)	Template:Flagmedalist	48.59 (PB)	Template:Flagmedalist	49.19
800 m Template:DetailsLink	Template:Flagmedalist	1:54.68	Template:Flagmedalist	1:56.11	Template:Flagmedalist	1:57.58
1500 m Template:DetailsLink	Template:Flagmedalist	4:00.90	Template:Flagmedalist	4:01.19	Template:Flagmedalist	4:02.25
3000 m Template:DetailsLink	Template:Flagmedalist	8:34.62	Template:Flagmedalist	8:35.11	Template:Flagmedalist	8:35.13
Marathon Template:DetailsLink	Template:Flagmedalist	2:28:09	Template:Flagmedalist	2:31:09	Template:Flagmedalist	2:31:13
100 m hurdles Template:DetailsLink	Template:Flagmedalist	12.35	Template:Flagmedalist	12.42	Template:Flagmedalist	12.62
400 m hurdles Template:DetailsLink	Template:Flagmedalist	54.14	Template:Flagmedalist	54.15	Template:Flagmedalist	54.55
4 × 100 m relay Template:DetailsLink	Template:Flagteam Silke Gladisch Marita Koch Ingrid Auerswald Marlies Göhr	41.76	Template:Flagteam Joan Baptiste Kathy Cook Beverley Callender Shirley Thomas	42.71	Template:Flagteam Leleith Hodges Jacqueline Pusey Juliet Cuthbert Merlene Ottey	42.73
4 × 400 m relay Template:DetailsLink	Template:Flagteam Kerstin Walther Sabine Busch Marita Koch Dagmar Rübsam Undine Bremer* Ellen Fiedler*	3:19.73	Template:Flagteam Taťána Kocembová Milena Matějkovičová Zuzana Moravčíková Jarmila Kratochvílová	3:20.32	Template:Flagteam 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 Template:DetailsLink	Template:Flagmedalist	2.01	Template:Flagmedalist	1.99	Template:Flagmedalist	1.95
Long jump Template:DetailsLink	Template:Flagmedalist	7.27	Template:Flagmedalist	7.15	Template:Flagmedalist	7.04
Shot put Template:DetailsLink	Template:Flagmedalist	21.05	Template:Flagmedalist	20.70	Template:Flagmedalist	20.56
Discus throw Template:DetailsLink	Template:Flagmedalist	68.94	Template:Flagmedalist	67.44	Template:Flagmedalist	66.44
Javelin throw Template:DetailsLink	Template:Flagmedalist	70.82	Template:Flagmedalist	69.14	Template:Flagmedalist	65.72
Heptathlon Template:DetailsLink	Template:Flagmedalist	6714	Template:Flagmedalist	6662	Template:Flagmedalist	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

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1983-0814-017, Helsinki, 1. Leichtathletik-WM, Cierpinski, De Castella.jpg

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

See also

• 1983 in athletics (track and field)

References

• IAAF

External links

• Summary at SVT's open archive