# 1969 European Athletics Championships

The 1969 European Athletics Championships were the ninth European Athletics Championships which were held from 16–21 September 1969 at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus, Greece. New at these championships were the women's 1500 metres and the women's 4×400 metres relay event. Moreover, women's 80 metres hurdles was replaced by women's 100 metres hurdles. Contemporaneous reports on the event were given in the Glasgow Herald.
Former East German runner Jürgen May, who had defected, was not allowed to compete for his new country, West Germany, due to IAAF rules requiring him to live there for at least three years; he had competed for East Germany in the 1966 championships. West German officials promptly withdrew their athletes from all individual events in protest, but decided to compete in the relay races as a symbolic gesture to show their respect for the Greek organisers.
The Dutch decathlete Edward de Noorlander was disqualified for the use of amphetamine, the first disqualification for doping in athletics.

## Medal summary

Complete results were published.

### Men

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres details | Valeriy Borzov (URS) | 10.4 | Alain Sarteur (FRA) | 10.4 | Philippe Clerc (SUI) | 10.5 |
| 200 metres details | Philippe Clerc (SUI) | 20.6 CR | Herman Burde (GDR) | 20.9 | Zenon Nowosz (POL) | 20.9 |
| 400 metres details | Jan Werner (POL) | 45.7 CR | Jean-Claude Nallet (FRA) | 45.8 | Stanisław Grędziński (POL) | 45.8 |
| 800 metres details | Dieter Fromm (GDR) | 1:45.9 =CR | Jozef Plachý (TCH) | 1:46.2 | Manfred Matuschewski (GDR) | 1:46.8 |
| 1500 metres details | John Whetton (GBR) | 3:39.4 CR | Frank Murphy (IRL) | 3:39.5 | Henryk Szordykowski (POL) | 3:39.8 |
| 5000 metres details | Ian Stewart (GBR) | 13:44.8 | Rashid Sharafetdinov (URS) | 13:45.8 | Alan Blinston (GBR) | 13:47.6 |
| 10,000 metres details | Jürgen Haase (GDR) | 28:41.6 | Michael Tagg (GBR) | 28:43.2 | Nikolay Sviridov (URS) | 28:45.8 |
| 110 metres hurdles details | Eddy Ottoz (ITA) | 13.5 CR | David Hemery (GBR) | 13.7 | Alan Pascoe (GBR) | 13.9 |
| 400 metres hurdles details | Vyacheslav Skomorokhov (URS) | 49.7 | John Sherwood (GBR) | 50.1 | Andrew Todd (GBR) | 50.3 |
| 3000 metres steeplechase details | Mikhail Zhelev (BUL) | 8:25.0 CR | Aleksandr Morozov (URS) | 8:25.6 | Vladimir Dudin (URS) | 8:26.6 |
| 4 × 100 metres relay details | France Alain Sarteur Patrick Bourbeillon Gérard Fenouil François St.-Gilles | 38.8 CR | Soviet Union Aleksandr Lebedev Vladislav Sapeya Nikolay Ivanov Valeriy Borzov | 39.3 | Czechoslovakia Ladislav Kříž Dionys Szogedi Jiří Kynos Luděk Bohman | 39.5 |
| 4 × 400 metres relay details | France Gilles Bertould Christian Nicolau Jacques Carette Jean-Claude Nallet | 3:02.3 CR | Soviet Union Yevgeniy Borisenko Boris Savchuk Yuriy Zorin Aleksandr Bratchikov | 3:03.0 | West Germany Horst-Rüdiger Schlöske Ingo Röper Gerhard Hennige Martin Jellinghaus | 3:03.1 |
| Marathon details | Ron Hill (GBR) | 2:16:47.8 | Gaston Roelants (BEL) | 2:17:22.2 | Jim Alder (GBR) | 2:19:05.8 |
| 20 kilometres walk details | Paul Nihill (GBR) | 1:30:48.0 | Leonida Karaiosifoglu (ROU) | 1:31:06.4 | Nikolay Smaga (URS) | 1:31:20.2 |
| 50 kilometres walk details | Christoph Höhne (GDR) | 4:12:32.8 CR | Peter Selzer (GDR) | 4:16:09.6 | Veniamin Soldatenko (URS) | 4:23:04.8 |
| High jump details | Valentin Gavrilov (URS) | 2.17 m | Reijo Vähälä (FIN) | 2.17 m | Erminio Azzaro (ITA) | 2.17 m |
| Pole vault details | Wolfgang Nordwig (GDR) | 5.30 m CR | Kjell Isaksson (SWE) | 5.20 m | Aldo Righi (ITA) | 5.10 m |
| Long jump details | Igor Ter-Ovanesyan (URS) | 8.17 m w | Lynn Davies (GBR) | 8.07 m w | Tõnu Lepik (URS) | 8.04 m w |
| Triple jump details | Viktor Saneyev (URS) | 17.34 m | Zoltán Cziffra (HUN) | 16.85 m | Klaus Neumann (GDR) | 16.68 m |
| Shot put details | Dieter Hoffmann (GDR) | 20.12 m CR | Heinz-Joachim Rothenburg (GDR) | 20.05 m | Hans-Peter Gies (GDR) | 19.78 m |
| Discus throw details | Hartmut Losch (GDR) | 61.82 m CR | Ricky Bruch (SWE) | 61.08 m | Lothar Milde (GDR) | 59.34 m |
| Hammer throw details | Anatoliy Bondarchuk (URS) | 74.68 m (WR) CR | Romuald Klim (URS) | 72.74 m | Reinhard Theimer (GDR) | 72.02 m |
| Javelin throw details | Jānis Lūsis (URS) | 91.52 m CR | Pauli Nevala (FIN) | 89.58 m | Janusz Sidło (POL) | 82.90 m |
| Decathlon details | Joachim Kirst (GDR) | 8041 pts CR | Herbert Wessel (GDR) | 7828 pts | Viktor Chelnikov (URS) | 7801 pts |
* $^{nb1}$ Max Klauß from East Germany jumped 8.00 in the final, which was a new championship record.
* $^{nb2}$ Probably wind assisted. As of statistic handbooks Viktor Saneyev's mark wasn't ratified as a new championship record.

### Women

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres details | Petra Vogt (GDR) | 11.6 | Wilma van den Berg (NED) | 11.7 | Anita Neil (GBR) | 11.8 |
| 200 metres details | Petra Vogt (GDR) | 23.2 | Renate Meissner (GDR) | 23.3 | Val Peat (GBR) | 23.3 |
| 400 metres details | Nicole Duclos (FRA) | 51.7 (WR) (51.72) CR | Colette Besson (FRA) | 51.7 (WR) (51.74) | Maria Sykora (AUT) | 53.0 |
| 800 metres details | Lillian Board (GBR) | 2:01.4 CR | Anneliese Damm Olesen (DEN) | 2:02.6 | Vera Nikolić (YUG) | 2:02.6 |
| 1500 metres details | Jaroslava Jehličková (TCH) | 4:10.7 (WR) | Maria Gommers (NED) | 4:11.9 | Paola Pigni (ITA) | 4:12.0 |
| 100 metres hurdles details | Karin Balzer (GDR) | 13.29 | Bärbel Podeswa (GDR) | 13.68 | Teresa Nowak (POL) | 13.77 |
| 4 × 100 metres relay details | East Germany Regina Hofer Renate Meissner Bärbel Podeswa Petra Vogt | 43.63 CR | West Germany Bärbel Hohnle Jutta Stock Rita Jahn-Wilden Ingrid Becker | 44.09 | Great Britain Anita Neil Denise Ramsden Sheila Cooper Val Peat | 44.39 |
| 4 × 400 metres relay details | Great Britain Rosemary Stirling Pat Lowe Janet Simpson Lillian Board | 3:30.8 (WR) | France Bernadette Martin Nicole Duclos Eliane Jacq Colette Besson | 3:30.8 (WR) | West Germany Christa Czekay Antje Gleichfeld Inge Eckhoff Christel Frese | 3:32.7 |
| High jump details | Miloslava Rezková (TCH) | 1.83 m =CR | Antonina Lazareva (URS) | 1.83 m | Mária Mračnová (TCH) | 1.83 m |
| Long jump details | Mirosława Sarna (POL) | 6.49 m | Viorica Viscopoleanu (ROU) | 6.45 m | Berit Berthelsen (NOR) | 6.44 m |
| Shot put details | Nadezhda Chizhova (URS) | 20.43 m (WR) CR | Margitta Gummel (GDR) | 19.58 m | Marita Lange (GDR) | 19.56 m |
| Discus throw details | Tamara Danilova (URS) | 59.28 m CR | Lyudmila Muravyova (URS) | 59.24 m | Karin Illgen (GDR) | 58.66 m |
| Javelin throw details | Angéla Németh (HUN) | 59.76 m CR | Magda Vidos (HUN) | 58.80 m | Valentina Evert (URS) | 56.56 m |
| Pentathlon details | Liese Prokop (AUT) | 5030 pts CR | Meta Antenen (SUI) | 4793 pts | Mariya Sizyakova (URS) | 4773 pts |

## Medal table

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | East Germany (GDR) | 11 | 7 | 7 | 25 |
| 2 | Soviet Union (URS) | 9 | 7 | 8 | 24 |
| 3 | Great Britain (GBR) | 6 | 4 | 7 | 17 |
| 4 | France (FRA) | 3 | 4 | 0 | 7 |
| 5 | Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 6 | Poland (POL) | 2 | 0 | 5 | 7 |
| 7 | Hungary (HUN) | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 8 | Switzerland (SUI) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 9 | Italy (ITA) | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| 10 | Austria (AUT) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 11 | Bulgaria (BUL) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | Finland (FIN) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 12 | Netherlands (NED) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 12 | Romania (ROU) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 12 | Sweden (SWE) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 16 | West Germany (FRG) | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 17 | Belgium (BEL) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 17 | Denmark (DEN) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 17 | Ireland (IRL) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 20 | Norway (NOR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 20 | Yugoslavia (SFR Yugoslavia) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (21 entries) | Totals (21 entries) | 38 | 38 | 38 | 114 |

## Participation

According to an unofficial count, 675 athletes from 30 countries participated in the event, one athlete more than the official number of 674 as published.
* Austria (9)
* Belgium (18)
* Bulgaria (19)
* Czechoslovakia (27)
* Denmark (8)
* East Germany (60)
* Finland (24)
* France (57)
* Gibraltar (1)
* Greece (24)
* Hungary (32)
* Iceland (3)
* Ireland (4)
* Italy (36)
* Liechtenstein (1)
* Luxembourg (4)
* Malta (1)
* Netherlands (9)
* Norway (18)
* Poland (51)
* Portugal (4)
* Romania (17)
* Soviet Union (79)
* Spain (6)
* Sweden (29)
* Switzerland (19)
* Turkey (10)
* Great Britain (71)
* West Germany (16)
* Yugoslavia (18)