# Athletics at the 1978 Asian Games

The 1978 Asian Games were held in National Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand from 14 December to 19 December. The event was not sanctioned by the International Amateur Athletics Federation due to the organizers' refusal to invite Israel.

## Medalists
### Men

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 m details | Suchart Jairsuraparp Thailand | 10.44 | Ramaswamy Gnanasekaran India | 10.60 | Suh Mal-gu South Korea | 10.66 |
| 200 m details | Ramaswamy Gnanasekaran India | 21.42 | Yasuhiro Harada Japan | 21.54 | Anat Ratanapol Thailand | 21.59 |
| 400 m details | Abbas Laibi Iraq | 46.71 | Uday Krishna Prabhu India | 46.79 | Murali Kuttan India | 47.18 |
| 800 m details | Sriram Singh India | 1:48.8 | Falah Naji Iraq | 1:49.7 | Takashi Ishii Japan | 1:49.9 |
| 1500 m details | Takashi Ishii Japan | 3:47.5 | Muhammad Younis Pakistan | 3:48.0 | Ratan Singh Bhadauria India | 3:48.1 |
| 5000 m details | Hari Chand India | 14:22.0 | Takao Nakamura Japan | 14:27.2 | Cui Yulin China | 14:28.1 |
| 10,000 m details | Hari Chand India | 30:07.7 | Robert Burma | 30:16.9 | Ko Ko Burma | 30:18.4 |
| 110 m hurdles details | Wang Xunhua China | 14.28 | Yoshifumi Fujimori Japan | 14.33 | Satbir Singh India | 14.43 |
| 400 m hurdles details | Hassan Kadhim Iraq | 50.81 GR | Takashi Nagao Japan | 50.98 | Talib Faisal Iraq | 51.24 |
| 3000 m steeplechase details | Masanari Shintaku Japan | 8:40.7 GR | Gopal Saini India | 8:44.8 | Hitoshi Iwabuchi Japan | 8:46.2 |
| 4 × 100 m relay details | Thailand Anat Ratanapol Kanoksak Chaisanont Suchart Jairsuraparp Somsak Boontud | 40.32 | Japan Akira Harada Yasuhiro Harada Susumu Shimizu Junichi Usui | 40.33 | China Yuan Guoqiang Zhao Jingyu Fan Xinwen Zou Zhenxian | 40.54 |
| 4 × 400 m relay details | Japan Eiji Natori Yasuhiro Harada Junichi Usui Takashi Nagao | 3:08.3 | India Murali Kuttan Harkamaljit Singh Uday Krishna Prabhu Sriram Singh | 3:08.4 | Iraq Talib Faisal Abbas Laibi Hassan Kadhim Fahim Abdul-Sada | 3:09.4 |
| Marathon details | Mineteru Sakamoto Japan | 2:15:29.7 GR | Choe Chang-sop North Korea | 2:15:57.4 | Koh Chun-son North Korea | 2:16:10.3 |
| 20 km walk details | Hakam Singh India | 1:31:54.4 GR | Subramaniam Vellasamy Malaysia | 1:31:58.8 | Khoo Chong Beng Malaysia | 1:33:56.8 |
| High jump details | Takao Sakamoto Japan | 2.20 | Kazunori Koshikawa Japan | 2.18 | Cui Hongjun China | 2.18 |
| Pole vault details | Tomomi Takahashi Japan | 5.10 GR | Chen Guanghui China | 5.05 | Yasuhiro Kigawa Japan | 5.00 |
| Long jump details | Suresh Babu India | 7.85 | Junichi Usui Japan | 7.76 | Toshihisa Yoshimoto Japan | 7.75 |
| Triple jump details | Masami Nakanishi Japan | 16.56 GR | Zou Zhenxian China | 16.47 | Zhou Jianguo China | 16.29 |
| Shot put details | Bahadur Singh Chouhan India | 17.61 | Zhao Baoqin China | 17.44 | Mohammad Al-Zinkawi Kuwait | 17.40 |
| Discus throw details | Li Weinan China | 56.26 | Li Jianguo China | 55.26 | Kiyotaka Kawasaki Japan | 53.32 |
| Hammer throw details | Shigenobu Murofushi Japan | 68.26 GR | Yoji Kitano Japan | 63.96 | Ji Shaoming China | 63.34 |
| Javelin throw details | Shen Maomao China | 79.24 GR | Toshihiko Takeda Japan | 71.60 | Ding Penglin China | 70.70 |
| Decathlon details | Hisashi Iwai Japan | 7003 | Prapant Srisathorn Thailand | 6833 | Jin Xuewei China | 6743 |

### Women

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 m details | Yin Yaping China | 12.20 | Yukiko Osako Japan | 12.21 | Usanee Laopinkarn Thailand | 12.22 |
| 200 m details | Usanee Laopinkarn Thailand | 24.81 | Lee Eun-ja South Korea | 24.99 | Junko Kushibuchi Japan | 25.05 |
| 400 m details | Saik Oik Cum Malaysia | 55.09 | Keiko Nagasawa Japan | 55.74 | Gao Yanqing China | 56.23 |
| 800 m details | Geeta Zutshi India | 2:07.7 | Jung Dong-sun North Korea | 2:07.9 | Chang Yong-ae North Korea | 2:08.3 |
| 1500 m details | Kim Ok-sun North Korea | 4:18.9 GR | Geeta Zutshi India | 4:28.2 | Choi Yung-ran North Korea | 4:33.3 |
| 3000 m details | Kim Ok-sun North Korea | 9:24.7 GR | Lu Hongxiang China | 9:35.4 | Yang Yanying China | 9:36.5 |
| 100 m hurdles details | Dai Jianhua China | 13.95 | Tamie Motegi Japan | 14.23 | Xie Lizhen China | 14.55 |
| 400 m hurdles details | Chen Xin China | 1:01.32 GR | Li Sulan China | 1:01.89 | Masae Kiguchi Japan | 1:02.09 |
| 4 × 100 m relay details | Thailand Usanee Laopinkarn Pusadee Sangvijit Wallapa Pinij Buspranee Ratanapol | 46.20 GR | Japan Emiko Konishi Yukiko Osako Junko Kushibuchi Tomoko Maeda | 46.78 | Philippines Amelita Saberon Lucila Tolentino Lorena Morcilla Lydia Silva-Netto | 47.00 |
| 4 × 400 m relay details | Japan Keiko Nagasawa Mayumi Kubota Tomoko Maeda Masae Kiguchi | 3:46.29 | China Gao Yanqing Liang Lihua Guo Guimei Zhang Huifen | 3:46.87 | North Korea Jang Geun-ok Chang Yong-ae Jung Dong-sun Kim Ok-sun | 3:48.78 |
| High jump details | Zheng Dazhen China | 1.88 GR | Tamami Yagi Japan | 1.82 | Yang Wenqin China | 1.80 |
| Long jump details | Zou Wa China | 6.28 | Angel Mary Joseph India | 6.05 | Sumie Awara Japan | 6.05 |
| Shot put details | Shen Lijuan China | 17.70 GR | Lü Cheng China | 16.72 | Kayoko Hayashi Japan | 15.59 |
| Discus throw details | Li Xiaohui China | 55.92 GR | Wang Dan China | 51.22 | Matsuko Takahashi Japan | 47.22 |
| Javelin throw details | Yao Ruiying China | 57.22 GR | Naomi Shibusawa Japan | 54.98 | Li Xia China | 54.08 |
| Pentathlon details | Ye Peisu China | 4133 | Angel Mary Joseph India | 3837 | Guo Yu China | 3731 |

## Medal table

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | China (CHN) | 12 | 9 | 13 | 34 |
| 2 | Japan (JPN) | 10 | 15 | 10 | 35 |
| 3 | India (IND) | 8 | 7 | 3 | 18 |
| 4 | Thailand (THA) | 4 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| 5 | North Korea (PRK) | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| 6 | Iraq (IRQ) | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 7 | Malaysia (MAL) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 8 | Burma (BIR) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 8 | South Korea (KOR) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 10 | Pakistan (PAK) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | Kuwait (KUW) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 11 | Philippines (PHI) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (12 entries) | Totals (12 entries) | 39 | 39 | 39 | 117 |