
The6th World Festival of Youth and Students featured anathletics competition among its programme of events. The events were contested in Moscow, Soviet Union in August 1957. Mainly contested among Eastern European athletes, it served as an alternative to the more Western European-oriented1957 World University Games held in Paris the same year in September.[1]
Many top Soviet athletes were present and the event and the nation won the most titles.Pyotr Bolotnikov won the10,000 metres – a feat which preceded a 1960 Olympic win at the distance.Semyon Rzhishchin, thesteeplechase world record holder, won his specialist event, but Olympic walking championLeonid Spirin settled for runner-up spot. In thetriple jump,Leonid Shcherbakov failed an attempt to win a fifth straight title at the festival, being beaten by two-time and reigning Olympic championAdhemar da Silva, who claimed Brazil's first gold in festival history. Javelin throwerJanusz Sidło won a fourth straight world student title and his throw of 80.12 m (262 ft10+1⁄4 in) marked the only time an athlete surpassed eighty metres at the competition. Yugoslavia was prominently represented byFranjo Mihalić, the Olympic runner-up andmarathon winner here.[1]
In women's events, former Olympic championGalina Zybina won the shot put for a second time running, while in the discus her compatriot and fellow Olympic championNina Ponomaryova won her fourth straight gold at the festival. Also among the strong Soviet throwers were javelin specialistInese Jaunzeme andTamara Tyshkevich (both reigning Olympic champions).Iolanda Balaș had her third straight world student win in thehigh jump. She went on to win at the1958 European Athletics Championships a year later, as did pentathlon winnerGalina Bystrova and 800 m runner-upYelizaveta Yermolayeva.[1][2]
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 21 | 19 | 21 | 61 | |
| 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 7 | |
| 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 10 | |
| 4 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 12 | |
| 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | |
| 6 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | |
| 7 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | |
| 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 9 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 11 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (11 entries) | 36 | 37 | 34 | 107 | |