1983 World Championships in Athletics
The inaugural 1983 World Championships in Athletics 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.
 | |
| Host city | Helsinki, Finland |
|---|---|
| Nations participating | 153 |
| Athletes participating | 1,355 |
| Events | 41 |
| Dates | 7–14 August 1983 |
| Officially opened by | President Mauno Koivisto |
| Main venue | Helsinki Olympic Stadium |
Summary
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
1983 | 1987 | 1991 | 1993 | 1995
Note: * Indicates athletes who ran in preliminary rounds.
Field
1983 | 1987 | 1991 | 1993 | 1995
| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long jump |
 Carl Lewis (USA) | 8.55 | Jason Grimes (USA) | 8.29 | Mike Conley (USA) | 8.12 |
| Triple jump |
 Zdzisław Hoffmann (POL) | 17.42 | Willie Banks (USA) | 17.18 |  Ajayi Agbebaku (NGR) | 17.18 |
| High jump |
 Hennadiy Avdyeyenko (URS) | 2.32 | Tyke Peacock (USA) | 2.32 |  Zhu Jianhua (CHN) | 2.29 |
| Pole vault |
Sergey Bubka (URS) | 5.70 | Konstantin Volkov (URS) | 5.60 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Atanas Tarev (BUL) | 5.60 |
| Shot put |
Edward Sarul (POL) | 21.39 |  Ulf Timmermann (GDR) | 21.16 |  Remigius Machura (TCH) | 20.98 |
| Discus throw |
Imrich Bugár (TCH) | 67.72 |  Luis Delís (CUB) | 67.36 | Géjza Valent (TCH) | 66.08 |
| Hammer throw |
Sergey Litvinov (URS) | 82.68 | Yuriy Sedykh (URS) | 80.94 | Zdzisław Kwaśny (POL) | 79.42 |
| Javelin throw |
Detlef Michel (GDR) | 89.48 | Tom Petranoff (USA) | 85.60 | Dainis Kūla (URS) | 85.58 |
| Decathlon |
 Daley Thompson (GBR) | 8666 |  Jürgen Hingsen (FRG) | 8561 | Siegfried Wentz (FRG) | 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
Note: * Indicates athletes who ran in preliminary rounds.
Field
1983 | 1987 | 1991 | 1993 | 1995
| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long jump |
Heike Daute (GDR) | 7.27 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Anişoara Cuşmir (ROU) | 7.15 | Carol Lewis (USA) | 7.04 |
| High jump |
Tamara Bykova (URS) | 2.01 | Ulrike Meyfarth (FRG) | 1.99 | Louise Ritter (USA) | 1.95 |
| Shot put |
Helena Fibingerová (TCH) | 21.05 | Helma Knorscheidt (GDR) | 20.70 | Ilona Slupianek (GDR) | 20.56 |
| Discus throw |
Martina Opitz (GDR) | 68.94 | Galina Murasova (URS) | 67.44 | Mariya Petkova (BUL) | 66.44 |
| Javelin throw |
 Tiina Lillak (FIN) | 70.82 | Fatima Whitbread (GBR) | 69.14 |  Anna Verouli (GRE) | 65.72 |
| Heptathlon |
Ramona Neubert (GDR) | 6714 | Sabine Paetz (GDR) | 6662 | Anke Vater (GDR) | 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
* Host nation (Finland)
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | East Germany (GDR) | 10 | 7 | 5 | 22 |
| 2 | United States (USA) | 8 | 9 | 7 | 24 |
| 3 | Soviet Union (URS) | 6 | 6 | 11 | 23 |
| 4 | Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 4 | 3 | 2 | 9 |
| 5 | West Germany (FRG) | 2 | 5 | 1 | 8 |
| 6 | Great Britain (GBR) | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| 7 | Poland (POL) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 8 | Finland (FIN)* | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
 Italy (ITA) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |
 Jamaica (JAM) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |
| 11 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Australia (AUS) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 Ireland (IRL) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
 Mexico (MEX) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
 Norway (NOR) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 15 | Cuba (CUB) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} Ethiopia (ETH) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 Netherlands (NED) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Romania (ROU) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 Spain (ESP) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 20 | Bulgaria (BUL) | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 21 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Brazil (BRA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| China (CHN) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Greece (GRE) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Morocco (MAR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Nigeria (NGR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (25 nations) | 41 | 41 | 41 | 123 | |
See also
References
External links
Media related to 1983 World Championships in Athletics at Wikimedia Commons