 | |
| Host city | Tokyo, Japan |
|---|---|
| Nations | 167 |
| Athletes | 1517 |
| Dates | August 23 – September 1, 1991 |
| Opened by | EmperorAkihito |
| Main venue | Olympic Stadium |
The3rd World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of theInternational Association of Athletics Federations, were held in theOlympic Stadium inTokyo, Japan between August 23 and September 1, 1991. 1,517 athletes from 167 countries participated in the event.[1] Japan hosted againthe championship in 2007 inOsaka and Tokyo hosted again the event in2025 in a new venue building at the same place.
The event is best-remembered for the men'slong jump competition, whenCarl Lewis made the best six-jump series in history, only to be beaten byMike Powell, whose 8.95 m (29 ft 4.36 in) jump brokeBob Beamon's long-standing world record from the1968 Summer Olympics.
Note: * Indicates athletes who ran in preliminary rounds.
1Georg Andersen of Norway originally won the silver medal, but he was disqualified after he tested positive for steroids.[2]
Note: * Indicates athletes who ran in preliminary rounds.
| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long jump details |  Jackie Joyner-Kersee (USA) | 7.32 |  Heike Drechsler (GER) | 7.29 |  Larysa Berezhna (URS) | 7.11 |
| High jump details | Heike Henkel (GER) | 2.05 | Yelena Yelesina (URS) | 1.98 | Inha Babakova (URS) | 1.96 |
| Shot put details |  Huang Zhihong (CHN) | 20.83 | Natalya Lisovskaya (URS) | 20.29 | Svetlana Krivelyova (URS) | 20.16 |
| Discus throw details |  Tsvetanka Khristova (BUL) | 71.02 | Ilke Wyludda (GER) | 69.12 | Larisa Mikhalchenko (URS) | 68.26 |
| Javelin throw details | Xu Demei (CHN) | 68.78 | Petra Meier (GER) | 68.68 | Silke Renk (GER) | 66.80 |
| Heptathlon details | Sabine Braun (GER) | 6672 |  Liliana Năstase (ROU) | 6493 | Irina Belova (URS) | 6448 |
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 only ran in the preliminary round and also received medals.
* Host nation (Japan)
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  United States (USA) | 10 | 8 | 8 | 26 |
| 2 | Soviet Union (URS) | 9 | 9 | 11 | 29 |
| 3 | Germany (GER) | 5 | 4 | 8 | 17 |
| 4 |  Kenya (KEN) | 4 | 3 | 1 | 8 |
| 5 |  Great Britain (GBR) | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| 6 | China (CHN) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 7 |  Algeria (ALG) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 8 |  Jamaica (JAM) | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 9 |  Finland (FIN) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 10 |  France (FRA) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
 Japan (JPN)* | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| 12 | Bulgaria (BUL) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 Italy (ITA) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
 Poland (POL) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
 Switzerland (SUI) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
 Zambia (ZAM) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 17 |  Cuba (CUB) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 18 |  Canada (CAN) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
 Hungary (HUN) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Romania (ROU) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 21 |  Brazil (BRA) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
 Djibouti (DJI) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 Ethiopia (ETH) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 Namibia (NAM) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 Netherlands (NED) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 Norway (NOR) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 Sweden (SWE) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 28 |  Morocco (MAR) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 29 |  Spain (ESP) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (29 entries) | 43 | 43 | 43 | 129 | |