# 1981 in the sport of athletics

This article contains an overview of the year 1981 in athletics.

## International events

* Asian Championships
* Central American and Caribbean Championships
* European Indoor Championships
* South American Championships
* Universiade
* World Cross Country Championships

## Men's Best Year Performers
### 100 metres

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Carl Lewis (USA) | 10.00 |
| 2. | Mel Lattany (USA) | 10.04 |
| 3. | James Sanford (USA) | 10.05 |
| 4. | Stanley Floyd (USA) | 10.10 |
| 5. | Jeff Phillips (USA) | 10.11 |

### 200 metres

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | James Sanford (USA) | 20.20 |
| 2. | Mel Lattany (USA) | 20.21 |
| 3. | Allan Wells (GBR) | 20.26 |
| 4. | Frank Emmelmann (GDR) | 20.33 |
| 5. | Dwayne Evans (USA) | 20.34 |

### 400 metres

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Bert Cameron (JAM) | 44.58 |
| 2. | Cliff Wiley (USA) | 44.70 |
| 3. | Zeke Jefferson (USA) | 44.86 |
| 4. | Leslie Kerr (USA) | 44.90 |
| 5. | Howard Henley (USA) | 44.92 |

### 800 metres

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Sebastian Coe (GBR) | 1:41.73 |
| 2. | Joaquim Cruz (BRA) | 1:44.3 |
| 3. | Olaf Beyer (GDR) | 1:44.31 |
| 4. | Mike Boit (KEN) | 1:44.49 |
| 5. | James Robinson (USA) | 1:44.63 |

### 1,500 metres

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Steve Ovett (GBR) | 3:31.57 |
| 2. | Sebastian Coe (GBR) | 3:31.95 |
| 3. | Steve Scott (USA) | 3:31.96 |
| 4. | Sydney Maree (USA) | 3:32.30 |
| 5. | Thomas Wessinghage (FRG) | 3:33.49 |

### Mile

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Sebastian Coe (GBR) | 3:47.33 |
| 2. | Steve Ovett (GBR) | 3:48.40 |
| 3. | Sydney Maree (USA) | 3:48.83 |
| 4. | Mike Boit (KEN) | 3:49.45 |
| 5. | José Luis González (ESP) | 3:49.67 |

### 3,000 metres

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Steve Scott (USA) | 7:36.69 |
| 2. | Thomas Wessinghage (FRG) | 7:36.75 |
| 3. | Henry Rono (KEN) | 7:41.41 |
| 4. | Sydney Maree (USA) | 7:43.42 |
| 5. | Eamonn Coghlan (IRL) | 7:44.99 |

### 5,000 metres

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Henry Rono (KEN) | 13:06.20 |
| 2. | Hansjörg Kunze (GDR) | 13:10.40 |
| 3. | Valeriy Abramov (URS) | 13:11.99 |
| 4. | Thomas Wessinghage (FRG) | 13:13.47 |
| 5. | Julian Goater (GBR) | 13:15.59 |

### 10,000 metres

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Fernando Mamede (POR) | 27:27.7 |
| 2. | Werner Schildhauer (GDR) | 27:38.43 |
| 3. | Mohamed Kedir (ETH) | 27:39.44 |
| 4. | Alberto Salazar (USA) | 27:40.69 |
| 5. | Henry Rono (KEN) | 27:40.78 |

### Half Marathon

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Herb Lindsay (USA) | 1:01:47 |

### 110m Hurdles

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Renaldo Nehemiah (USA) | 12.93 |
| 2. | Greg Foster (USA) | 13.03 |
| 3. | Alejandro Casañas (CUB) | 13.36 |
| 4. | Sam Turner (USA) | 13.38 |
| 5. | Dedy Cooper (USA) | 13.40 |

### 400m Hurdles

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Edwin Moses (USA) | 47.14 |
| 2. | Andre Phillips (USA) | 48.10 |
| 3. | David Lee (USA) | 48.53 |
| 4. | Harald Schmid (FRG) | 48.64 |
| 5. | Bart Williams (USA) | 48.81 |

### 3,000m Steeplechase

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Patriz Ilg (FRG) | 8:12.13 |
| 2. | Mariano Scartezzini (ITA) | 8:13.32 |
| 3. | Bogusław Mamiński (POL) | 8:16.66 |
| 4. | Amos Korir (KEN) | 8:18.57 |
| 5. | Henry Marsh (USA) | 8:18.58 |

### High Jump

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | HEIGHT |
| 1. | Jeff Woodard (USA) | 2.33 |
| 1. | Aleksey Demyanyuk (URS) | 2.33 |
| 3. | Roland Dalhäuser (SUI) | 2.31 |
| 3. | Gerd Nagel (FRG) | 2.31 |
| 3. | Dwight Stones (USA) | 2.31 |

### Long Jump

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | DISTANCE |
| 1. | Carl Lewis (USA) | 8.62 |
| 2. | Larry Myricks (USA) | 8.45 |
| 3. | Henry Lauterbach (GDR) | 8.35 |
| 4. | Winfried Klepsch (FRG) | 8.21 |
| 5. | Atanas Chochev (BUL) | 8.19 |

### Triple Jump

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | DISTANCE |
| 1. | Willie Banks (USA) | 17.56 |
| 2. | João Carlos de Oliveira (BRA) | 17.37 |
| 3. | Zou Zhenxian (CHN) | 17.34 |
| 4. | Keith Connor (GBR) | 17.31 |
| 5. | Shamil Abbyasov (URS) | 17.30 |

### Discus

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | DISTANCE |
| 1. | John Powell (USA) | 69.98 |
| 2. | Wolfgang Schmidt (GDR) | 69.60 |
| 3. | Al Oerter (USA) | 68.76 |
| 4. | Art Swarts (USA) | 68.32 |
| 5. | Art Burns (USA) | 67.86 |

### Hammer

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | DISTANCE |
| 1. | Klaus Ploghaus (FRG) | 80.56 |
| 2. | Yuriy Syedikh (URS) | 80.18 |
| 3. | Sergey Litvinov (URS) | 79.60 |
| 4. | Roland Steuk (GDR) | 78.72 |
| 5. | Karl-Hans Riehm (FRG) | 78.72 |

### Shot Put

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | DISTANCE |
| 1. | Brian Oldfield (USA) | 22.02 |
| 2. | Udo Beyer (GDR) | 21.69 |
| 3. | Dave Laut (USA) | 21.60 |
| 4. | Mike Carter (USA) | 21.20 |
| 5. | Yevgeniy Mironov (URS) | 21.11 |

### Pole Vault

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | HEIGHT |
| 1. | Vladimir Polyakov (URS) | 5.81 |
| 1. | Thierry Vigneron (FRA) | 5.81 |
| 3. | Konstantin Volkov (URS) | 5.75 |
| 4. | Philippe Houvion (FRA) | 5.70 |
| 4. | Jean-Michel Bellot (FRA) | 5.70 |
| 4. | Sergey Kulibaba (URS) | 5.70 |
| 4. | Aleksandr Krupskiy (URS) | 5.70 |

### Javelin (old design)

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | DISTANCE |
| 1. | Detlef Michel (GDR) | 92.48 |
| 2. | Pentti Sinersaari (FIN) | 91.98 |
| 3. | Arto Härkönen (FIN) | 91.04 |
| 4. | Dainis Kula (URS) | 90.54 |
| 5. | Seppo Hovinen (FIN) | 90.38 |

### Decathlon

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | POINTS |
| 1. | Rainer Pottel (GDR) | 8334 |
| 2. | Yuriy Kutsenko (URS) | 8281 |
| 3. | Uwe Freimuth (GDR) | 8221 |
| 4. | Dariusz Ludwig (POL) | 8204 |
| 5. | Atanas Andonov (BUL) | 8220 |

## Women's Best Year Performers
### 100 metres

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Evelyn Ashford (USA) | 10.90 |
| 2. | Merlene Ottey (JAM) | 11.07 |
| 3. | Jarmila Kratochvílová (TCH) | 11.09 |
| 3. | Marlies Göhr (GDR) | 11.09 |
| 5. | Angella Taylor (CAN) | 11.12 |

### 200 metres

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Evelyn Ashford (USA) | 21.84 |
| 2. | Jarmila Kratochvílová (TCH) | 21.97 |
| 3. | Bärbel Wöckel (GDR) | 22.07 |
| 4. | Merlene Ottey (JAM) | 22.35 |
| 5. | Gesine Walther (GDR) | 22.42 |

### 400 metres

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Jarmila Kratochvílová (TCH) | 48.61 |
| 2. | Marita Koch (GDR) | 49.27 |
| 3. | Irina Nazarova (RUS) | 50.50 |
| 4. | Gaby Bussmann (FRG) | 50.83 |
| 5. | Dagmar Rübsam (GDR) | 50.98 |

### 800 metres

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Lyudmila Veselkova (URS) | 1:56.98 |
| 2. | Martina Steuk (GDR) | 1:57.16 |
| 3. | Fiţa Lovin (ROU) | 1:57.42 |
| 4. | Tamara Sorokina (URS) | 1:57.55 |
| 5. | Hildegard Körner (GDR) | 1:57.56 |

### 1,500 metres

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Olga Dvirna (URS) | 3:57.78 |
| 2. | Maricica Puică (ROU) | 3:58.29 |
| 3. | Zamira Zaytseva (URS) | 3:58.70 |
| 4. | Tamara Sorokina (URS) | 3:58.89 |
| 5. | Anna Bukis (POL) | 3:59.67 |

### Mile

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Lyudmila Veselkova (URS) | 4:20.89 |
| 2. | Maricica Puică (ROU) | 4:21.40 |
| 3. | Fiţa Lovin (ROU) | 4:21.82 |
| 4. | Zamira Zaytseva (URS) | 4:22.5 |
| 5. | Svetlana Ulmasova (URS) | 4:23.8 |

### 3,000 metres

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Maricica Puică (ROU) | 8:34.30 |
| 2. | Tatyana Pozdnyakova (URS) | 8:34.80 |
| 3. | Alla Yushina (URS) | 8:38.34 |
| 4. | Olga Dvirna (URS) | 8:44.6 |
| 5. | Grete Waitz (NOR) | 8:44.64 |

### 5,000 metres

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Paula Fudge (GBR) | 15:14.51 |
| 2. | Yelena Sipatova (URS) | 15:24.6 |
| 3. | Ellen Tittel (FRG) | 15:34.76 |

### 10,000 metres

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Yelena Sipatova (URS) | 32:17.19 |
| 2. | Yelena Tsukhlo (URS) | 32:20.40 |
| 3. | Anna Oyun (URS) | 32:36.00 |
| 4. | Maria Klyukina (URS) | 32:37.40 |
| 5. | Marina Danilyuk (URS) | 32:46.56 |

### 100m Hurdles

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Tatyana Anisimova (URS) | 12.68 |
| 2. | Kerstin Knabe (GDR) | 12.85 |
| 3. | Danuta Perka (POL) | 12.93 |
| 4, | Lucyna Kalek (POL) | 12.97 |

### 400m Hurdles

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Ellen Neumann (GDR) | 54.79 |
| 2. | Natalya Tsyruk (URS) | 55.49 |
| 3. | Ana Kasteckaja (URS) | 55.51 |
| 4. | Petra Pfaff (GDR) | 55.54 |
| 5. | Genowefa Blaszak (POL) | 55.78 |

### High Jump

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | HEIGHT |
| 1. | Pam Spencer (USA) | 1.97 m |
| 2. | Charmaine Gale (RSA) | 1.96 m |
| 2. | Kerstin Dedner (GDR) | 1.96 m |
| 2. | Sara Simeoni (ITA) | 1.96 m |
| 2. | Ulrike Meyfarth (FRG) | 1.96 m |
| 2. | Tamara Bykova (URS) | 1.96 m |

### Long Jump

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | DISTANCE |
| 1. | Jodi Anderson (USA) | 6.96 m |
| 2. | Anişoara Cuşmir (ROU) | 6.91 m |
| 2. | Heike Daute (GDR) | 6.91 m |
| 4. | Ramona Neubert (GDR) | 6.90 m |
| 5. | Sigrid Ulbricht (GDR) | 6.89 m |

### Discus

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | DISTANCE |
| 1. | Evelin Jahl (GDR) | 71.46 m |
| 2. | Mariya Petkova (BUL) | 71.30 m |
| 3. | Valentina Kharchenko (URS) | 69.86 m |
| 4. | Galina Savinkova (URS) | 69.70 m |
| 5. | Florenţa Crăciunescu (ROU) | 68.98 m |

### Shot Put

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | DISTANCE |
| 1. | Ilona Slupianek (GDR) | 21.61 m |
| 2. | Helena Fibingerová (TCH) | 21.57 m |
| 3. | Ines Müller (GDR) | 21.14 m |
| 4. | Verzhinia Veselinova (BUL) | 21.09 m |
| 5. | Margitta Droese (GDR) | 21.08 m |

### Javelin (old design)

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | DISTANCE |
| 1. | Antoaneta Todorova (BUL) | 71.88 m |
| 2. | Tessa Sanderson (GBR) | 68.86 m |
| 3. | Ute Hommola (GDR) | 67.24 m |
| 4. | Petra Felke (GDR) | 66.60 m |
| 5. | Tiina Lillak (FIN) | 66.34 m |

### Heptathlon

| RANK | 1981 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | POINTS |
| 1. | Ramona Neubert (GDR) | 6788 |
| 2. | Sabine Everts (FRG) | 6365 |
| 3. | Malgorzata Nowak (POL) | 6333 |
| 4. | Yekaterina Gordiyenko (URS) | 6295 |
| 5. | Jane Frederick (USA) | 6291 |

## Births
### January

* January 8 – Mesías Zapata, Ecuadorian race walker
* January 14 – Hyleas Fountain, American heptathlete
* January 18 – Naoyuki Daigo, Japanese high jumper
* January 24 – Jong Yong-Ok, North Korean long-distance runner
* January 27 – Fabrizio Schembri, Italian triple jumper
* January 29 – Rose Richmond, American long jumper

### February

* February 12 – Amarilys Alméstica, Puerto Rican hammer thrower
* February 13 – Rosibel García, Colombian middle-distance runner
* February 15 – Rita Jeptoo, Kenyan marathon runner
* February 16 – Jessé de Lima, Brazilian high jumper
* February 17 – Shi Na, Chinese race walker
* February 19 – Shellene Williams, Jamaican sprinter
* February 25 – Marek Plawgo, Polish athlete

### March

* March 11 – Yelena Konevtseva, Russian hammer thrower
* March 13 – Stefan Wenk, German javelin thrower
* March 22 – Aliaksandr Parkhomenka, Belarusian decathlete
* March 28 – Yuniel Hernández, Cuban hurdler

### April

* April 13 – Moushaumi Robinson, American sprinter
* April 19 – Kazuhiro Maeda, Japanese long-distance runner

### May

* May 6 – Rui Pedro Silva, Portuguese distance runner
* May 15 – Merja Korpela, Finnish hammer thrower
* May 20 – Jana Tucholke, German discus thrower
* May 21 – Anna Rogowska, Polish pole vaulter
* May 28 – Kamil Kalka, Polish race walker
* May 31 – Eileen O'Keefe, Irish hammer thrower

### July

* July 9 – Rutger Smith, Dutch discus thrower and shot putter
* July 13 – Ineta Radēviča, Latvian long and triple jumper
* July 24 – Carys Parry, Welsh hammer thrower
* July 30 – Daria Onyśko, Polish sprinter

### August

* August 15 – Yoshiko Fujinaga, Japanese long-distance runner
* August 30 – Aleksandr Vashchyla, Belarusian hammer thrower

### September

* September 6 – Brandon Simpson, Jamaican athlete
* September 7 – Eyerusalem Kuma, Ethiopian distance runner
* September 12 – Greg Nixon, American sprinter
* September 15 – Tomas Intas, Lithuanian javelin thrower

### October

* October 3 – Anna Omarova, Russian shot putter
* October 18 – Ji Young-Jun, South Korean long-distance runner

### November

* November 8 – Jéssica Augusto, Portuguese long-distance runner
* November 18 – Kimberly Barrett, Jamaica-Puerto Rican shot putter
* November 21 – Werknesh Kidane, Ethiopian long-distance runner

### December

* December 8 – Gabriel Ortiz, Mexican race walker
* December 22 – Marina Kuptsova, Russian high jumper

## Deaths

* April 25 – Paul Bontemps (76), French long-distance runner (b. 1902)
* August 2 – Delfo Cabrera (62), Argentine long-distance runner (b. 1919)