# Athletics at the 1997 Summer Universiade

The athletics at the 1997 Summer Universiade took place in the Stadio Cibali in Catania, Sicily (Italy) at the end of August 1997, shortly after the World Championships in Athens, Greece. New events were the women's hammer throw, pole vault and half marathon competition. The marathon was dropped from the programme in favour of the half distance. A total of 23 men's and 22 women's events were contested (the difference being that steeplechase was held for men only).
The United States topped the athletics medal table (as it had in 1995) with a total of 21 medals, eight of them gold. Russia was the next most successful nation, with six golds among its haul of 16 medals. Ukraine won five gold medals, while Cuba won four events and had the third highest medal total at twelve. The host nation, Italy, won eight medals. A total of 34 nations reached the medal table.
Among the 1995 men's champions, Ukrainian shot putter Yuriy Bilonoh and hammer thrower Balázs Kiss of Hungary successfully defended their titles. On the women's side, double distance champion Gabriela Szabo won the 1500 metres again and Russia's Natalya Sadova repeated as discus throw winner. Student-athletes Szabo, Iván Pedroso (long jump) Yoelbi Quesada (triple jump) and Marius Corbett (javelin) won both Universiade and World Championships gold medals that year, though there was an upset in the Universiade racewalking events, as world champion and world leader Annarita Sidoti only managed third place.

## Medal summary
### Men

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres details (Wind: -0.5) | Vincent Henderson (USA) | 10.22 | Aleksandr Porkhomovskiy (RUS) | 10.39 | Jonathan Carter (USA) | 10.42 |
| 200 metres details (Wind: -0.3) | Gentry Bradley (USA) | 20.48 | Tony Wheeler (USA) | 20.64 | Anninos Marcoullides (CYP) | 20.72 |
| 400 metres details | Clement Chukwu (NGR) | 44.81 | Jerome Davis (USA) | 45.30 | Linval Laird (JAM) | 45.54 |
| 800 metres details | Norberto Téllez (CUB) | 1:47.63 | Hezekiél Sepeng (RSA) | 1:47.77 | Bryan Woodward (USA) | 1:48.43 |
| 1500 metres details | Anthony Whiteman (GBR) | 3:43.57 | Carlos García (ESP) | 3:43.97 | António Travassos (POR) | 3:44.14 |
| 5000 metres details | Simone Zanon (ITA) | 13:57.54 | Thorsten Naumann (GER) | 13:58.35 | Dan Browne (USA) | 14:00.94 |
| 10,000 metres details | Kamiel Maase (NED) | 28:22.11 | Dan Browne (USA) | 28:27.64 | Rachid Berradi (ITA) | 28:30.05 |
| 110 metres hurdles details (Wind: -0.7) | Andrey Kislykh (RUS) | 13.44 | Jonathan Nsenga (BEL) | 13.51 | Dudley Dorival (USA) | 13.53 |
| 400 metres hurdles details | Llewellyn Herbert (RSA) | 48.99 | Ruslan Mashchenko (RUS) | 49.36 | Mubarak Al-Nubi (QAT) | 49.48 |
| 3000 metres steeplechase details | Mark Ostendarp (GER) | 8:25.83 | Marcel Laros (NED) | 8:27.91 | Michael Buchleitner (AUT) | 8:28.92 |
| 4 × 100 metres relay details | United States (USA) Vincent Henderson Bryan Howard Jonathan Carter Tony McCall | 38.48 | Cuba (CUB) Anier García Misael Ortiz Iván García Luis Alberto Pérez Rionda | 38.52 | Great Britain (GBR) Dan Money Jamie Henthorn Ross Baillie Douglas Walker | 39.23 |
| 4 × 400 metres relay details | United States (USA) Octavius Terry Tony Wheeler Jerome Davis Bryan Woodward | 3:02.53 | Jamaica (JAM) Ian Weakley Linval Laird Garth Robinson Dennis Blake | 3:02.68 | Great Britain (GBR) Richard Knowles Sean Baldock Mark Sesay Jared Deacon | 3:02.74 |
| Half marathon details | Marílson dos Santos (BRA) | 1:03:32 | Stephen Mayaka (KEN) | 1:03:51 | Solomon Wachira (KEN) | 1:04:05 |
| 20 kilometres walk details | Ilya Markov (RUS) | 1:25:36 | Alejandro López (MEX) | 1:26:00 | Arturo Di Mezza (ITA) | 1:26:12 |
| High jump details | Lee Jin-Taek (KOR) | 2.32 | Charles Lefrançois (CAN) | 2.32 | Didier Detchénique (FRA) | 2.28 |
| Pole vault details | Khalid Lachheb (FRA) | 5.70 | Chad Harting (USA) | 5.60 | Werner Holl (GER) | 5.55 |
| Long jump details | Iván Pedroso (CUB) | 8.40 | James Beckford (JAM) | 8.35 | Gregor Cankar (SLO) | 8.11 |
| Triple jump details | Yoelbi Quesada (CUB) | 17.35 | Aliecer Urrutia (CUB) | 17.11 | Robert Howard (USA) | 17.08 |
| Shot put details | Yuriy Bilonoh (UKR) | 20.34 | Paolo Dal Soglio (ITA) | 20.01 | Brian Miller (USA) | 19.72 |
| Discus throw details | Vladimir Dubrovshchik (BLR) | 66.40 | Andy Bloom (USA) | 63.12 | Doug Reynolds (USA) | 62.76 |
| Hammer throw details | Balázs Kiss (HUN) | 79.42 | Vadim Kolesnik (UKR) | 77.16 | Ilya Konovalov (RUS) | 76.16 |
| Javelin throw details | Marius Corbett (RSA) | 86.50 | Emeterio González (CUB) | 83.48 | Gregor Högler (AUT) | 81.12 |
| Decathlon details | Roman Šebrle (CZE) | 8380 | Kamil Damašek (CZE) | 8072 | Marcel Dost (NED) | 7899 |

### Women

| Games | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres details (Wind: +1.5) | Ekaterini Thanou (GRE) | 11.20 | Anzhela Kravchenko (UKR) | 11.34 | Katia Benth (FRA) | 11.35 |
| 200 metres details (Wind: -0.6) | Yekaterina Leshchova (RUS) | 23.18 | Katia Benth (FRA) | 23.31 | Monika Gachevska (BUL) | 23.60 |
| 400 metres details | Allison Curbishley (GBR) | 50.84 | Olga Kotlyarova (RUS) | 51.35 | Idalmis Bonne (CUB) | 51.72 |
| 800 metres details | Irina Nedelenko (UKR) | 2:00.21 | Yelena Buzhenko (UKR) | 2:00.84 | Mariya Sinyusova (RUS) | 2:01.38 |
| 1500 metres details | Gabriela Szabo (ROM) | 4:10.31 | Carla Sacramento (POR) | 4:10.40 | Lidia Chojecka (POL) | 4:12.38 |
| 5000 metres details | Nnenna Lynch (USA) | 15:47.61 | Lori Durward (CAN) | 15:48.68 | Sarah Howell (CAN) | 15:49.96 |
| 10,000 metres details | Deena Drossin (USA) | 33:45.31 | Lucilla Andreucci (ITA) | 33:54.22 | Miwako Yamanaka (JPN) | 34:10.28 |
| 100 metres hurdles details (Wind: -1.1) | Angela Atede (NGR) | 13.16 | Feng Yun (CHN) | 13.19 | Svetlana Laukhova (RUS) | 13.22 |
| 400 metres hurdles details | Tetyana Tereshchuk (UKR) | 54.91 | Yekaterina Bakhvalova (RUS) | 55.91 | Daimí Pernía (CUB) | 56.13 |
| 4 × 100 metres relay details | United States (USA) Juan Ball Melinda Sergent Shani Anderson Passion Richardson | 44.04 | Russia (RUS) Yekaterina Leshcheva Irina Korotya Olga Povtoryova Natalya Ignatova | 44.37 | Canada (CAN) Sonia Paquette Tara Perry LaDonna Antoine Karen Clarke | 44.59 |
| 4 × 400 metres relay details | Russia (RUS) Natalya Sharova Svetlana Goncharenko Yekaterina Bakhvalova Olga Kotlyarova | 3:27.93 | Cuba (CUB) Nancy McLeón Julia Duporty Daimí Pernía Idalmis Bonne | 3:29.00 | Great Britain (GBR) Vicki Jamison Michelle Pierre Michelle Thomas Allison Curbishley | 3:30.57 |
| Half marathon details | Mari Sotani (JPN) | 1:11:49 | Agata Balsamo (ITA) | 1:13:06 | Miyuki Tokura (JPN) | 1:13:20 |
| 10 kilometres walk details | Larisa Ramazanova (BLR) | 44:01 | Rossella Giordano (ITA) | 44:31 | Annarita Sidoti (ITA) | 44:38 |
| High jump details | Amy Acuff (USA) | 1.98 | Monica Iagar (ROM) | 1.96 | Marie Collonvillé (FRA) | 1.94 |
| Pole vault details | Emma George (AUS) | 4.40 | Cai Weiyan (CHN) | 4.30 | Doris Auer (AUT) | 4.10 |
| Long jump details | Olena Shekhovtsova (UKR) | 6.78 | Viktoriya Vershynina (UKR) | 6.44 | Cristina Nicolau (ROM) | 6.40 |
| Triple jump details | Olena Hovorova (UKR) | 14.23 | Olga Cepero (CUB) | 14.12 | Zhanna Gureyeva (BLR) | 13.93 |
| Shot put details | Irina Korzhanenko (RUS) | 19.39 | Corrie de Bruin (NED) | 18.65 | Tressa Thompson (USA) | 18.26 |
| Discus throw details | Natalya Sadova (RUS) | 67.02 | Hu Honglian (CHN) | 61.00 | Nicoleta Grasu (ROM) | 60.08 |
| Hammer throw details | Mihaela Melinte (ROM) | 69.84 | Olga Kuzenkova (RUS) | 65.96 | Deborah Sosimenko (AUS) | 65.02 |
| Javelin throw details | Isel López (CUB) | 64.30 | Sonia Bisset (CUB) | 63.46 | Karen Forkel (GER) | 60.70 |
| Heptathlon details | Mona Steigauf (GER) | 6546 | Irina Vostrikova (RUS) | 6175 | Marie Collonvillé (FRA) | 6143 |

## Medal table

* Host nation (Italy)
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | United States (USA) | 8 | 5 | 8 | 21 |
| 2 | Russia (RUS) | 6 | 7 | 3 | 16 |
| 3 | Ukraine (UKR) | 5 | 4 | 0 | 9 |
| 4 | Cuba (CUB) | 4 | 6 | 2 | 12 |
| 5 | Germany (GER) | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 5 | Romania (ROM) | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 7 | South Africa (RSA) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 8 | Great Britain (GBR) | 2 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| 9 | Belarus (BLR) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 10 | Nigeria (NGR) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 11 | Italy (ITA)* | 1 | 4 | 3 | 8 |
| 12 | Netherlands (NED) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 13 | France (FRA) | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| 14 | Czech Republic (CZE) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 15 | Japan (JPN) | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 16 | Australia (AUS) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 17 | Brazil (BRA) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 17 | Greece (GRE) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 17 | Hungary (HUN) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 17 | South Korea (KOR) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 21 | China (CHN) | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 22 | Canada (CAN) | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 23 | Jamaica (JAM) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 24 | Kenya (KEN) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 24 | Portugal (POR) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 26 | Belgium (BEL) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 26 | Mexico (MEX) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 26 | Spain (ESP) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 29 | Austria (AUT) | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 30 | Bulgaria (BUL) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 30 | Cyprus (CYP) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 30 | Poland (POL) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 30 | Qatar (QAT) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 30 | Slovenia (SLO) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (34 entries) | Totals (34 entries) | 45 | 45 | 45 | 135 |