# Athletics at the 1988 Summer Olympics

At the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul a total number of 42 events in athletics were contested: 24 by men and 18 by women. There were a total number of 1617 participating athletes from 149 countries.

## Medal summary
### Men

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres details | Carl Lewis United States | 9.92 (WR) | Linford Christie Great Britain | 9.97 (AR) | Calvin Smith United States | 9.99 |
| 200 metres details | Joe DeLoach United States | 19.75 (OR) | Carl Lewis United States | 19.79 | Robson da Silva Brazil | 20.04 |
| 400 metres details | Steve Lewis United States | 43.87 | Butch Reynolds United States | 43.93 | Danny Everett United States | 44.09 |
| 800 metres details | Paul Ereng Kenya | 1:43.45 | Joaquim Cruz Brazil | 1:43.90 | Saïd Aouita Morocco | 1:44.06 |
| 1500 metres details | Peter Rono Kenya | 3:35.96 | Peter Elliott Great Britain | 3:36.15 | Jens-Peter Herold East Germany | 3:36.21 |
| 5000 metres details | John Ngugi Kenya | 13:11.70 | Dieter Baumann West Germany | 13:15.52 | Hansjörg Kunze East Germany | 13:15.73 |
| 10,000 metres details | Brahim Boutayeb Morocco | 27:21.44 (OR) | Salvatore Antibo Italy | 27:23.55 | Kipkemboi Kimeli Kenya | 27:25.16 |
| 110 metres hurdles details | Roger Kingdom United States | 12.98 (OR) | Colin Jackson Great Britain | 13.28 | Tonie Campbell United States | 13.38 |
| 400 metres hurdles details | Andre Phillips United States | 47.19 (OR) | Amadou Dia Ba Senegal | 47.23 (NR) | Edwin Moses United States | 47.56 |
| 3000 metres steeplechase details | Julius Kariuki Kenya | 8:05.51 (OR) | Peter Koech Kenya | 8:06.79 | Mark Rowland Great Britain | 8:07.96 |
| 4 × 100 metres relay details | Soviet Union (URS) Viktor Bryzhin Vladimir Krylov Vladimir Muravyov Vitaliy Savin | 38.19 | Great Britain (GBR) Elliot Bunney John Regis Linford Christie Mike McFarlane Clarence Callender* | 38.28 | France (FRA) Bruno Marie-Rose Daniel Sangouma Gilles Quenehervé Max Morinière | 38.40 |
| 4 × 400 metres relay details | United States (USA) Danny Everett Steve Lewis Kevin Robinzine Butch Reynolds Antonio McKay* Andrew Valmon* | 2:56.16 | Jamaica (JAM) Howard Davis Devon Morris Winthrop Graham Bert Cameron Trevor Graham* Howard Burnett* | 3:00.30 | West Germany (FRG) Norbert Dobeleit Edgar Itt Jörg Vaihinger Ralf Lübke Mark Henrich* Bodo Kuhn* | 3:00.56 |
| Marathon details | Gelindo Bordin Italy | 2:10:32 | Douglas Wakiihuri Kenya | 2:10:47 | Hussein Ahmed Salah Djibouti | 2:10:59 |
| 20 kilometres walk details | Jozef Pribilinec Czechoslovakia | 1:19:57 (OR) | Ronald Weigel East Germany | 1:20:00 | Maurizio Damilano Italy | 1:20:14 |
| 50 kilometres walk details | Vyacheslav Ivanenko Soviet Union | 3:38:29 (OR) | Ronald Weigel East Germany | 3:38:56 | Hartwig Gauder East Germany | 3:39:45 |
| High jump details | Hennadiy Avdyeyenko Soviet Union | 2.38 m (OR) | Hollis Conway United States | 2.36 m | Rudolf Povarnitsyn Soviet Union | 2.36 m |
| High jump details | Hennadiy Avdyeyenko Soviet Union | 2.38 m (OR) | Hollis Conway United States | 2.36 m | Patrik Sjöberg Sweden | 2.36 m |
| Pole vault details | Sergey Bubka Soviet Union | 5.90 m (OR) | Radion Gataullin Soviet Union | 5.85 m | Grigoriy Yegorov Soviet Union | 5.80 m |
| Long jump details | Carl Lewis United States | 8.72 m | Mike Powell United States | 8.49 m | Larry Myricks United States | 8.27 m |
| Triple jump details | Khristo Markov Bulgaria | 17.61 m (OR) | Igor Lapshin Soviet Union | 17.52 m | Aleksandr Kovalenko Soviet Union | 17.42 m |
| Shot put details | Ulf Timmermann East Germany | 22.47 m (OR) | Randy Barnes United States | 22.39 m | Werner Günthör Switzerland | 21.99 m |
| Discus throw details | Jürgen Schult East Germany | 68.82 m (OR) | Romas Ubartas Soviet Union | 67.48 m | Rolf Danneberg West Germany | 67.38 m |
| Hammer throw details | Sergey Litvinov Soviet Union | 84.80 m (OR) | Yuriy Sedykh Soviet Union | 83.76 m | Jüri Tamm Soviet Union | 81.16 m |
| Javelin throw details | Tapio Korjus Finland | 84.28 m | Jan Železný Czechoslovakia | 84.12 m | Seppo Räty Finland | 83.26 m |
| Decathlon details | Christian Schenk East Germany | 8488 | Torsten Voss East Germany | 8399 | Dave Steen Canada | 8328 |

### Women

| Games | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres details | Florence Griffith Joyner United States | 10.54w (OR) | Evelyn Ashford United States | 10.83w | Heike Drechsler East Germany | 10.85w |
| 200 metres details | Florence Griffith Joyner United States | 21.34 (WR) | Grace Jackson Jamaica | 21.72 | Heike Drechsler East Germany | 21.95 |
| 400 metres details | Olha Bryzhina Soviet Union | 48.65 (OR) | Petra Müller East Germany | 49.45 | Olga Nazarova Soviet Union | 49.90 |
| 800 metres details | Sigrun Wodars East Germany | 1:56.10 | Christine Wachtel East Germany | 1:56.64 | Kim Gallagher United States | 1:56.91 |
| 1500 metres details | Paula Ivan Romania | 3:53.96 (OR) | Laimutė Baikauskaitė Soviet Union | 4:00.24 | Tetyana Samolenko Soviet Union | 4:00.30 |
| 3000 metres details | Tetyana Samolenko Soviet Union | 8:26.53 (OR) | Paula Ivan Romania | 8:27.15 | Yvonne Murray Great Britain | 8:29.02 |
| 10,000 metres details | Olga Bondarenko Soviet Union | 31:05.21 (OR) | Liz McColgan Great Britain | 31:08.44 | Olena Zhupiyeva Soviet Union | 31:19.82 |
| 100 metres hurdles details | Yordanka Donkova Bulgaria | 12.38 (OR) | Gloria Siebert East Germany | 12.61 | Claudia Zaczkiewicz West Germany | 12.75 |
| 400 metres hurdles details | Debbie Flintoff-King Australia | 53.17 (OR) | Tatyana Ledovskaya Soviet Union | 53.18 | Ellen Fiedler East Germany | 53.63 |
| 4 × 100 metres relay details | United States (USA) Alice Brown Sheila Echols Florence Griffith Joyner Evelyn Ashford Dannette Young* | 41.98 | East Germany (GDR) Silke Möller Kerstin Behrendt Ingrid Lange Marlies Göhr | 42.09 | Soviet Union (URS) Lyudmila Kondratyeva Galina Malchugina Marina Zhirova Natalya Pomoshchnikova Maia Azarashvili* | 42.75 |
| 4 × 400 metres relay details | Soviet Union (URS) Tatyana Ledovskaya Olga Nazarova Mariya Pinigina Olha Bryzhina Lyudmyla Dzhyhalova* | 3:15.17 (WR) | United States (USA) Denean Howard Diane Dixon Valerie Brisco-Hooks Florence Griffith Joyner Sherri Howard* Lillie Leatherwood* | 3:15.51 (AR) | East Germany (GDR) Dagmar Neubauer Kirsten Emmelmann Sabine Busch Petra Müller Grit Breuer* | 3:18.29 |
| Marathon details | Rosa Mota Portugal | 2:25:40 | Lisa Martin-Ondieki Australia | 2:25:53 | Katrin Dörre East Germany | 2:26:21 |
| High jump details | Louise Ritter United States | 2.03 m (OR) | Stefka Kostadinova Bulgaria | 2.01 m | Tamara Bykova Soviet Union | 1.99 m |
| Long jump details | Jackie Joyner-Kersee United States | 7.40 m (OR) | Heike Drechsler East Germany | 7.22 m | Galina Chistyakova Soviet Union | 7.11 m |
| Shot put details | Natalya Lisovskaya Soviet Union | 22.24 m | Kathrin Neimke East Germany | 21.07 m | Li Meisu China | 21.06 m |
| Discus throw details | Martina Hellmann East Germany | 72.30 m (OR) | Diana Gansky East Germany | 71.88 m | Tsvetanka Khristova Bulgaria | 69.74 m |
| Javelin throw details | Petra Felke East Germany | 74.68 m (OR) | Fatima Whitbread Great Britain | 70.32 m | Beate Koch East Germany | 67.30 m |
| Heptathlon details | Jackie Joyner-Kersee United States | 7291 (WR) | Sabine John East Germany | 6897 | Anke Behmer East Germany | 6858 |
* * = Athletes who ran in preliminary rounds and also received medals.

## Medal table

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | United States (USA) | 13 | 7 | 6 | 26 |
| 2 | Soviet Union (URS) | 10 | 6 | 10 | 26 |
| 3 | East Germany (GDR) | 6 | 11 | 10 | 27 |
| 4 | Kenya (KEN) | 4 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| 5 | Bulgaria (BUL) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 6 | Italy (ITA) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 7 | Australia (AUS) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | Romania (ROM) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | Finland (FIN) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 10 | Morocco (MAR) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 12 | Portugal (POR) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 13 | Great Britain (GBR) | 0 | 6 | 2 | 8 |
| 14 | Jamaica (JAM) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 15 | West Germany (FRG) | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 16 | Brazil (BRA) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 17 | Senegal (SEN) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 18 | Canada (CAN) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 18 | China (CHN) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 18 | Djibouti (DJI) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 18 | France (FRA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 18 | Sweden (SWE) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 18 | Switzerland (SUI) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (23 entries) | Totals (23 entries) | 42 | 42 | 43 | 127 |