# 1983 World Championships in Athletics

The 1st World Championships in Athletics (Finnish: Yleisurheilun maailmanmestaruuskilpailut 1983; Swedish: Världsmästerskapen i friidrott 1983) were run under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations and were held at the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki, Finland between 7 and 14 August 1983. Despite the existence of previously held championship events in both 1976 and 1980, this 1983 championship was marked as the inaugural World Championship.

## Summary

The overall medal table was a closely contested affair. East Germany took the most gold medals (10) over the first championships and finished with a total of 22 medals. The United States had the second number of gold medals, with eight, and also had the greatest overall medal haul, having won 24 medals. The Soviet Union won one more medal than the East Germans and had six golds, although almost half of their podium finishers were bronze medalists. Twenty-five nations reached the medal tally at the inaugural competition, with all six continents being represented. During the early 1980s this was the top venue in which Soviet Bloc athletes competed against American athletes due to the American-led boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow and the retaliatory Soviet Bloc boycott of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Carl Lewis won both the 100 metres and the long jump, and finished the competition by anchoring the 4 × 100 metres relay team to a world record time, along with the 200 metres champion Calvin Smith, and bronze medallists Emmit King and Willie Gault. Jarmila Kratochvílová dominated the 400 and 800 metres events, setting a world record of 47.99 seconds. Mary Decker enjoyed her best competition performance, taking the golds in the women's 1500 and 3000 metres. Other prominent athletes included Marita Koch, who won the 200 m and both relay golds, as well as the 100 m silver medal. Sergey Bubka won the first of his six consecutive World Championship gold medals in the pole vault.

## Men's results
### Track

1983 | 1987 | 1991 | 1993 | 1995
| Games | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 m details | Carl Lewis United States | 10.07 | Calvin Smith United States | 10.21 | Emmit King United States | 10.24 |
| 200 m details | Calvin Smith United States | 20.14 | Elliott Quow United States | 20.41 | Pietro Mennea Italy | 20.51 |
| 400 m details | Bert Cameron Jamaica | 45.05 | Michael Franks United States | 45.22 | Sunder Nix United States | 45.24 |
| 800 m details | Willi Wülbeck West Germany | 1:43.65 | Rob Druppers Netherlands | 1:44.20 | Joaquim Cruz Brazil | 1:44.27 |
| 1500 m details | Steve Cram Great Britain | 3:41.59 | Steve Scott United States | 3:41.87 | Saïd Aouita Morocco | 3:42.02 |
| 5000 m details | Eamonn Coghlan Ireland | 13:28.53 | Werner Schildhauer East Germany | 13:30.20 | Martti Vainio Finland | 13:30.34 |
| 10,000 m details | Alberto Cova Italy | 28:01.04 | Werner Schildhauer East Germany | 28:01.18 | Hansjörg Kunze East Germany | 28:01.26 |
| Marathon details | Rob de Castella Australia | 2:10:03 | Kebede Balcha Ethiopia | 2:10:27 | Waldemar Cierpinski East Germany | 2:10:37 |
| 110 m hurdles details | Greg Foster United States | 13.42 | Arto Bryggare Finland | 13.46 | Willie Gault United States | 13.48 |
| 400 m hurdles details | Edwin Moses United States | 47.50 | Harald Schmid West Germany | 48.61 | Aleksandr Kharlov Soviet Union | 49.03 |
| 3000 m st. details | Patriz Ilg West Germany | 8:15.06 | Bogusław Mamiński Poland | 8:17.03 | Colin Reitz Great Britain | 8:17.75 |
| 20 km walk details | Ernesto Canto Mexico | 1:20:49 | Jozef Pribilinec Czechoslovakia | 1:20:59 | Yevgeniy Yevsyukov Soviet Union | 1:21:08 |
| 50 km walk details | Ronald Weigel East Germany | 3:43:08 | José Marín Spain | 3:46:32 | Sergey Yung Soviet Union | 3:49:03 |
| 4 × 100 m relay details | United States (USA) Emmit King Willie Gault Calvin Smith Carl Lewis | 37.86 (WR) | Italy (ITA) Stefano Tilli Carlo Simionato Pierfrancesco Pavoni Pietro Mennea | 38.37 (NR) | Soviet Union (URS) Andrey Prokofyev Nikolay Sidorov Vladimir Muravyov Viktor Bryzgin | 38.41 |
| 4 × 400 m relay details | Soviet Union (URS) Sergey Lovachov Aleksandr Troshchilo Nikolay Chernetskiy Viktor Markin | 3:00.79 | West Germany (FRG) Erwin Skamrahl Jörg Vaihinger Harald Schmid Hartmut Weber Martin Weppler* Edgar Nakladal* | 3:01.83 | Great Britain (GBR) Ainsley Bennett Garry Cook Todd Bennett Phil Brown Kriss Akabusi* | 3:03.53 |
| 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 ran in preliminary rounds.

### Field

1983 | 1987 | 1991 | 1993 | 1995
| Games | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| High jump details | Hennadiy Avdyeyenko Soviet Union | 2.32 | Tyke Peacock United States | 2.32 | Zhu Jianhua China | 2.29 |
| Pole vault details | Sergey Bubka Soviet Union | 5.70 | Konstantin Volkov Soviet Union | 5.60 | Atanas Tarev Bulgaria | 5.60 |
| Long jump details | Carl Lewis United States | 8.55 | Jason Grimes United States | 8.29 | Mike Conley United States | 8.12 |
| Triple jump details | Zdzisław Hoffmann Poland | 17.42 | Willie Banks United States | 17.18 | Ajayi Agbebaku Nigeria | 17.18 |
| Shot put details | Edward Sarul Poland | 21.39 | Ulf Timmermann East Germany | 21.16 | Remigius Machura Czechoslovakia | 20.98 |
| Discus throw details | Imrich Bugár Czechoslovakia | 67.72 | Luis Delís Cuba | 67.36 | Géjza Valent Czechoslovakia | 66.08 |
| Hammer throw details | Sergey Litvinov Soviet Union | 82.68 | Yuriy Sedykh Soviet Union | 80.94 | Zdzisław Kwaśny Poland | 79.42 |
| Javelin throw details | Detlef Michel East Germany | 89.48 | Tom Petranoff United States | 85.60 | Dainis Kūla Soviet Union | 85.58 |
| Decathlon details | Daley Thompson Great Britain | 8666 | Jürgen Hingsen West Germany | 8561 | Siegfried Wentz West Germany | 8478 |
| 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) |||||| |

## Women's results
### Track

1983 | 1987 | 1991 | 1993 | 1995
| Games | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 m details | Marlies Göhr East Germany | 10.97 (CR) | Marita Koch East Germany | 11.02 | Diane Williams United States | 11.06 |
| 200 m details | Marita Koch East Germany | 22.13 | Merlene Ottey Jamaica | 22.19 | Kathy Cook Great Britain | 22.37 |
| 400 m details | Jarmila Kratochvílová Czechoslovakia | 47.99 (WR) | Taťána Kocembová Czechoslovakia | 48.59 (PB) | Mariya Pinigina Soviet Union | 49.19 |
| 800 m details | Jarmila Kratochvílová Czechoslovakia | 1:54.68 | Lyubov Gurina Soviet Union | 1:56.11 | Yekaterina Podkopayeva Soviet Union | 1:57.58 |
| 1500 m details | Mary Decker United States | 4:00.90 | Zamira Zaytseva Soviet Union | 4:01.19 | Yekaterina Podkopayeva Soviet Union | 4:02.25 |
| 3000 m details | Mary Decker United States | 8:34.62 | Brigitte Kraus West Germany | 8:35.11 | Tatyana Kazankina Soviet Union | 8:35.13 |
| Marathon details | Grete Waitz Norway | 2:28:09 | Marianne Dickerson United States | 2:31:09 | Raisa Smekhnova Soviet Union | 2:31:13 |
| 100 m hurdles details | Bettine Jahn East Germany | 12.35 | Kerstin Knabe East Germany | 12.42 | Ginka Zagorcheva Bulgaria | 12.62 |
| 400 m hurdles details | Yekaterina Fesenko Soviet Union | 54.14 | Ana Ambrazienė Soviet Union | 54.15 | Ellen Fiedler East Germany | 54.55 |
| 4 × 100 m relay details | East Germany (GDR) Silke Gladisch Marita Koch Ingrid Auerswald Marlies Göhr | 41.76 | Great Britain (GBR) Joan Baptiste Kathy Cook Beverley Callender Shirley Thomas | 42.71 | Jamaica (JAM) Leleith Hodges Jacqueline Pusey Juliet Cuthbert Merlene Ottey | 42.73 |
| 4 × 400 m relay details | East Germany (GDR) Kerstin Walther Sabine Busch Marita Koch Dagmar Rübsam Undine Bremer* Ellen Fiedler* | 3:19.73 | Czechoslovakia (TCH) Taťána Kocembová Milena Matějkovičová Zuzana Moravčíková Jarmila Kratochvílová | 3:20.32 | Soviet Union (URS) Yelena Korban Marina Ivanova Irina Baskakova Mariya Pinigina | 3:21.16 |
| 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 ran in preliminary rounds.

### Field

1983 | 1987 | 1991 | 1993 | 1995
| Games | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| High jump details | Tamara Bykova Soviet Union | 2.01 | Ulrike Meyfarth West Germany | 1.99 | Louise Ritter United States | 1.95 |
| Long jump details | Heike Daute East Germany | 7.27 | Anişoara Cuşmir Romania | 7.15 | Carol Lewis United States | 7.04 |
| Shot put details | Helena Fibingerová Czechoslovakia | 21.05 | Helma Knorscheidt East Germany | 20.70 | Ilona Slupianek East Germany | 20.56 |
| Discus throw details | Martina Opitz East Germany | 68.94 | Galina Murasova Soviet Union | 67.44 | Mariya Petkova Bulgaria | 66.44 |
| Javelin throw details | Tiina Lillak Finland | 70.82 | Fatima Whitbread Great Britain | 69.14 | Anna Verouli Greece | 65.72 |
| Heptathlon details | Ramona Neubert East Germany | 6714 | Sabine Paetz East Germany | 6662 | Anke Vater East Germany | 6532 |
| 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) |||||| |

## Medal table

* Host nation (Finland)
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | East Germany (GDR) | 10 | 7 | 5 | 22 |
| 2 | United States (USA) | 8 | 9 | 7 | 24 |
| 3 | Soviet Union (URS) | 6 | 6 | 11 | 23 |
| 4 | Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 4 | 3 | 2 | 9 |
| 5 | West Germany (FRG) | 2 | 5 | 1 | 8 |
| 6 | Great Britain (GBR) | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| 7 | Poland (POL) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 8 | Finland (FIN)* | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 8 | Italy (ITA) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 8 | Jamaica (JAM) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 11 | Australia (AUS) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | Ireland (IRL) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | Mexico (MEX) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | Norway (NOR) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 15 | Cuba (CUB) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 15 | Ethiopia (ETH) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 15 | Netherlands (NED) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 15 | Romania (ROU) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 15 | Spain (ESP) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 20 | Bulgaria (BUL) | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 21 | Brazil (BRA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 21 | China (CHN) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 21 | Greece (GRE) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 21 | Morocco (MAR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 21 | Nigeria (NGR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (25 entries) | Totals (25 entries) | 41 | 41 | 41 | 123 |