 | |
| Host city | Helsinki, Finland |
|---|---|
| Nations | 153 |
| Athletes | 1,355 |
| Events | 41 |
| Dates | 7–14 August 1983 |
| Opened by | PresidentMauno Koivisto |
| Main venue | Helsinki Olympic Stadium |
The1st World Championships in Athletics (Finnish:Yleisurheilun maailmanmestaruuskilpailut 1983;Swedish:Världsmästerskapen i friidrott 1983) were run under the auspices of theInternational Association of Athletics Federations and were held at theOlympic Stadium inHelsinki, Finland between 7 and 14 August 1983. Despite the existence of previously held championship events in both1976 and1980, this 1983 championship was marked as the inaugural World Championship.
The overall medal table was a closely contested affair.East Germany took the mostgold medals (10) over the first championships and finished with a total of 22 medals. TheUnited States had the second number of gold medals, with eight, and also had the greatest overall medal haul, having won 24 medals. TheSoviet Union won one more medal than the East Germans and had six golds, although almost half of their podium finishers werebronze 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 the100 metres and thelong jump, and finished the competition by anchoring the4 × 100 metres relay team to aworld record time, along with the200 metres championCalvin Smith, and bronze medallistsEmmit King andWillie Gault.Jarmila Kratochvílová dominated the400 and800 metres events, setting a world record of 47.99 seconds.Mary Decker enjoyed her best competition performance, taking the golds in the women's1500 and3000 metres. Other prominent athletes includedMarita 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 thepole vault.
Note: * Indicates athletes who ran in preliminary rounds.
Note: * Indicates athletes who ran in preliminary rounds.
| 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) | ||||||
* 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 |  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 |
 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 |  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 entries) | 41 | 41 | 41 | 123 | |
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