# 1982 in the sport of athletics

This article contains an overview of the year 1982 in athletics.

## International Events

* African Championships
* Asian Games
* Central American and Caribbean Championships
* Commonwealth Games
* European Championships
* European Indoor Championships
* World Cross Country Championships

## World records
### Men

| EVENT | ATHLETE | MARK | DATE | VENUE |
| 5000m | David Moorcroft (GBR) | 13:00:41 | July 7 | Oslo, Norway |
| Half Marathon | Michael Musyoki (KEN) | 1:01:36 | September 19 | Philadelphia, United States |
| Hammer | Sergey Litvinov (URS) | 83.98m | June 4 | Moscow, Soviet Union |
| Decathlon | Daley Thompson (GBR) | 8730 | May 23 | Götzis, Austria |
| Decathlon | Jürgen Hingsen (FRG) | 8741 | August 15 | Athens, Greece |
| Decathlon | Daley Thompson (GBR) | 8774 | September 8 | Athens, Greece |

### Women

| EVENT | ATHLETE | MARK | DATE | VENUE |
| 400 metres | Marita Koch (GDR) | 48.16 | September 8 | Athens, Greece |
| Mile | Mary Slaney (USA) | 4:18.08 | July 9 | Paris, France |
| Mile | Maricica Puică (ROU) | 4:17.44 | September 16 | Rieti, Italy |
| 3,000 metres | Svetlana Ulmasova (URS) | 8:26.78 | July 25 | Kiev, Soviet Union |
| 5,000 metres | Anne Audain (NZL) | 15:13.22 | March 17 | Auckland, New Zealand |
| 5,000 metres | Mary Slaney (USA) | 15:08.26 | June 5 | Eugene, Oregon, United States |
| 10,000 metres | Mary Slaney (USA) | 31:35.3 | July 16 | Eugene, Oregon, United States |
| 4 × 400 m Relay | East Germany (GDR) • Kirsten Emmelmann • Sabine Busch • Dagmar Neubauer • Marita Koch | 3:19.04 | September 11 | Athens, Greece |
| Half Marathon | Grete Waitz (NOR) | 1:09:57 | May 15 | Gothenburg, Sweden |
| High Jump | Ulrike Meyfarth (FRG) | 2.02 | September 8 | Athens, Greece |
| Long Jump | Anisoara Cusmir (ROM) | 7.15 | August 1 | Bucharest, Romania |
| Long Jump | Valeria Ionescu (ROM) | 7.20 | August 1 | Bucharest, Romania |
| Javelin Throw | Tiina Lillak (FIN) | 72.40 | July 29 | Helsinki, Finland |
| Javelin Throw | Sofia Sakorafa (GRE) | 74.20 | September 26 | Khania, Greece |
| Heptathlon | Ramona Neubert (GDR) | 6845 | June 20 | Halle, East Germany |
* Marlies Göhr (GDR) equals her own world record in the women's 100 metres, clocking 10.88 seconds on 1982-07-06 at a meet in Karl-Marx-Stadt.

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

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Carl Lewis (USA) | 10.00 |
| 2. | Stanley Floyd (USA) | 10.03 |
| 3. | Calvin Smith (USA) | 10.05 |
| 4. | Willie Gault (USA) | 10.10 |
| 5. | Mike Miller (USA) | 10.11 |

### 200 metres

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Mike Miller (USA) | 20.15 |
| 2. | Phil Epps (USA) | 20.19 |
| 3. | Tony Sharpe (CAN) | 20.22 |
| 4. | James Butler (USA) | 20.23 |
| 5= | Carl Lewis (USA) | 20.27 |
| 5= | Jeff Phillips (USA) | 20.27 |

### 400 metres

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Sunder Nix (USA) | 44.68 |
| 2. | Darrell Robinson (USA) | 44.69 |
| — | Bert Cameron (JAM) | 44.69 |
| 4. | Hartmut Weber (FRG) | 44.72 |
| 5. | Hassan El Kashief (SUD) | 44.76 |

### 800 metres

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Steve Cram (GBR) | 1:44.45 |
| 2. | Sebastian Coe (GBR) | 1:44.48 |
| 3. | Rob Druppers (NED) | 1:44.54 |
| 4. | Garry Cook (GBR) | 1:44.71 |
| 5. | James Robinson (USA) | 1:44.72 |

### 1,500 metres

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Sydney Maree (USA) | 3:32.12 |
| 2. | Steve Scott (USA) | 3:32.33 |
| 3. | Thomas Wessinghage (FRG) | 3:32.85 |
| 4. | José Manuel Abascal (ESP) | 3:33.12 |
| 5. | Ray Flynn (IRL) | 3:33.5 |

### Mile

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Steve Scott (USA) | 3:47.69 |
| 2. | Sydney Maree (USA) | 3:48.85 |
| 3. | John Walker (NZL) | 3:49.08 |
| 4. | David Moorcroft (GBR) | 3:49.34 |
| 5. | Ray Flynn (IRL) | 3:49.77 |

### 3,000 metres

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | David Moorcroft (GBR) | 7:32.79 |
| 2. | Sydney Maree (USA) | 7:33.37 |
| 3. | John Walker (NZL) | 7:37.49 |
| 4. | Peter Koech (KEN) | 7:39.09 |
| 5. | Thomas Wessinghage (FRG) | 7:39.34 |

### 5,000 metres

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | David Moorcroft (GBR) | 13:00.41 |
| 2. | Wodajo Bulti (ETH) | 13:07.29 |
| 3. | António Leitão (POR) | 13:07.70 |
| 4. | Henry Rono (KEN) | 13:08.97 |
| 5. | Peter Koech (KEN) | 13:09.50 |

### 10,000 metres

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Fernando Mamede (POR) | 27:22.95 |
| 2. | Carlos Lopes (POR) | 27:24.39 |
| 3. | Alberto Salazar (USA) | 27:25.61 |
| 4. | Alex Hagelsteens (BEL) | 27:26.95 |
| 5. | Henry Rono (KEN) | 27:28.67 |

### Half Marathon

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Michael Musyoki (KEN) | 1:01:36 WR |

### 110m Hurdles

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Greg Foster (USA) | 13.22 |
| 2. | Willie Gault (USA) | 13.26 |
| 3. | Sam Turner (USA) | 13.31 |
| 4. | Alejandro Casañas (CUB) | 13.36 |
| 5. | Mark McKoy (CAN) | 13.37 |

### 400m Hurdles

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Harald Schmid (FRG) | 47.48 |
| 2. | David Patrick (USA) | 48.44 |
| — | David Lee (USA) | 48.44 |
| 4. | Andre Phillips (USA) | 48.45 |
| 5. | Larry Cowling (USA) | 48.46 |

### 3,000m Steeplechase

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Henry Marsh (USA) | 8:16.17 |
| 2. | Patriz Ilg (FRG) | 8:17.04 |
| 3. | Wolfgang Konrad (AUT) | 8:17.22 |
| 4. | Bogusław Mamiński (POL) | 8:17.41 |
| 5. | Colin Reitz (GBR) | 8:18.80 |

### High Jump

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | HEIGHT |
| 1. | Zhu Jianhua (CHN) | 2.33 |
| 2. | Gennadiy Byelkov (URS) | 2.32 |
| — | Milton Ottey (CAN) | 2.32 |
| — | Del Davis (USA) | 2.32 |
| 5. | Steven Wray (BAH) | 2.31 |

### Long Jump

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | DISTANCE |
| 1. | Carl Lewis (USA) | 8.76 |
| 2. | Larry Myricks (USA) | 8.56 |
| 3. | Lutz Dombrowski (GDR) | 8.30 |
| 4. | Vance Johnson (USA) | 8.21 |
| 5. | László Szalma (HUN) | 8.20 |
| — | Viktor Belskiy (URS) | 8.20 |

### Triple Jump

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | DISTANCE |
| 1. | Keith Connor (GBR) | 17.57 |
| 2. | Ken Lorraway (AUS) | 17.46 |
| 3. | Gennadiy Valyukevich (URS) | 17.42 |
| 4. | Aleksandr Beskrovniy (URS) | 17.37 |
| 5. | Willie Banks (USA) | 17.36 |

### Discus

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | DISTANCE |
| 1. | Luis Delís (CUB) | 70.58 |
| 2. | Art Burns (USA) | 69.96 |
| 3. | Georgiy Kolnootchenko (URS) | 69.44 |
| 4. | Yuriy Dumchev (URS) | 69.16 |
| 5. | Imrich Bugár (TCH) | 68.60 |

### Hammer

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | DISTANCE |
| 1. | Sergey Litvinov (URS) | 83.98 |
| 2. | Igor Nikulin (URS) | 83.54 |
| 3. | Yuriy Syedikh (URS) | 81.66 |
| 4. | Yuriy Tarasyuk (URS) | 80.72 |
| 5. | Karl-Hans Riehm (FRG) | 79.48 |

### Shot Put

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | DISTANCE |
| 1. | Dave Laut (USA) | 22.02 |
| 2. | Udo Beyer (GDR) | 21.94 |
| 3. | Remigius Machura (TCH) | 21.74 |
| 4. | Janis Bojars (URS) | 21.31 |
| 5. | Kevin Akins (USA) | 21.27 |

### Pole Vault

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | HEIGHT |
| 1. | Dave Volz (USA) | 5.75 |
| — | Jean-Michel Bellot (FRA) | 5.75 |
| 3. | Billy Olson (USA) | 5.72 |
| — | Dan Ripley (USA) | 5.72 |
| 5. | Larry Jessee (USA) | 5.71 |

### Javelin (old design)

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | DISTANCE |
| 1. | Bob Roggy (USA) | 95.80 |
| 2. | Detlef Michel (GDR) | 94.52 |
| 3. | Uwe Hohn (GDR) | 91.34 |
| 4. | Dainis Kula (URS) | 90.96 |
| 5. | Heino Puuste (URS) | 90.72 |

### Decathlon

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | POINTS |
| 1. | Daley Thompson (GBR) | 8774 |
| 2. | Jürgen Hingsen (FRG) | 8741 |
| 3. | Konstantin Akhapkin (URS) | 8485 |
| 4. | Siegfried Stark (GDR) | 8472 |
| 5. | Torsten Voss (FRG) | 8397 |

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

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Marlies Göhr (GDR) | 10.88 |
| 2. | Evelyn Ashford (USA) | 10.93 |
| 3. | Bärbel Wöckel (GDR) | 10.95 |
| 4. | Angella Taylor (CAN) | 11.00 |
| 5. | Marita Koch (GDR) | 11.01 |

### 200 metres

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Marita Koch (GDR) | 21.76 |
| 2. | Bärbel Wöckel (GDR) | 22.04 |
| 3. | Evelyn Ashford (USA) | 22.10 |
| 4. | Kathy Smallwood (GBR) | 22.13 |
| 5. | Merlene Ottey (JAM) | 22.17 |

### 400 metres

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Marita Koch (GDR) | 48.16 |
| 2. | Jarmila Kratochvílová (TCH) | 48.85 |
| 3. | Bärbel Wöckel (GDR) | 49.56 |
| 4. | Tatána Kocembová (TCH) | 50.41 |
| 5. | Kathy Smallwood (GBR) | 50.46 |

### 800 metres

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Doina Melinte (ROU) | 1:55.05 |
| 2. | Olga Mineyeva (URS) | 1:55.41 |
| 3. | Lyudmila Veselkova (URS) | 1:55.96 |
| 4. | Ravilya Agletdinova (URS) | 1:56.1 |
| 5. | Tatyana Mishkel (URS) | 1:56.2 |

### 1,500 metres

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Olga Dvirna (URS) | 3:54.23 |
| 2. | Zamira Zaytseva (URS) | 3:56.14 |
| 3. | Tatyana Pozdnyakova (URS) | 3:56.50 |
| 4. | Svetlana Guskova (URS) | 3:57.05 |
| 5. | Maricica Puică (ROU) | 3:57.48 |

### Mile

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Maricica Puică (ROU) | 4:17.44 |
| 2. | Mary Decker-Tabb (USA) | 4:18.08 |
| 3. | Vesela Yatzinska (BUL) | 4:21.52 |
| 4. | Vanya Stoyanova (BUL) | 4:21.78 |
| 5. | Tamara Sorokina (URS) | 4:21.89 |

### 3,000 metres

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Svetlana Ulmasova (URS) | 8:26.78 |
| 2. | Svetlana Guskova (URS) | 8:29.36 |
| 3. | Mary Decker-Tabb (USA) | 8:29.71 |
| 4. | Maricica Puică (ROU) | 8:31.67 |
| 5. | Galina Zakharova (URS) | 8:33.40 |

### 5,000 metres

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Mary Decker-Tabb (USA) | 15:08.26 |
| 2. | Grete Waitz (NOR) | 15:08.80 |
| 3. | Irina Bondarchuk (URS) | 15:12.62 |
| 4. | Anne Audain (NZL) | 15:13.22 |
| 5. | Charlotte Teske (FRG) | 15:19.54 |

### 10,000 metres

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Mary Decker-Tabb (USA) | 31:35.3 |
| 2. | Anna Domoradskaya (URS) | 31:48.23 |
| 3. | Raysa Sadreydinova (URS) | 31:55.02 |
| 4. | Galina Zakharova (URS) | 31:57.0 |
| 5. | Lyudmila Baranova (URS) | 32:04.88 |

### Half Marathon

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Grete Waitz (NOR) | 1:09:57 |

### 100m Hurdles

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Yordanka Donkova (BUL) | 12.44 |
| 2. | Lucyna Kalek (POL) | 12.45 |
| 3. | Kerstin Knabe (GDR) | 12.54 |
| 4. | Bettine Jahn (GDR) | 12.55 |
| 5. | Sabine Mobius (GDR) | 12.62 |

### 400m Hurdles

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | TIME |
| 1. | Ann-Louise Skoglund (SWE) | 54.57 |
| 2. | Petra Pfaff (GDR) | 54.89 |
| 3. | Chantal Réga (FRA) | 54.93 |
| 4. | Ellen Fiedler (GDR) | 54.96 |

### High Jump

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | HEIGHT |
| 1. | Ulrike Meyfarth (FRG) | 2.02 |
| 2. | Coleen Sommer (USA) | 1.98 |
| 2. | Tamara Bykova (URS) | 1.98 |
| 2. | Sara Simeoni (ITA) | 1.98 |
| 5. | Jutta Kirst (GDR) | 1.97 |
| 5. | Yelena Popkova (URS) | 1.97 |

### Long Jump

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | DISTANCE |
| 1. | Valy Ionescu (ROU) | 7.20 |
| 2. | Anişoara Cuşmir (ROU) | 7.15 |
| 3. | Heike Daute (GDR) | 6.98 |
| 4. | Tatyana Skachko (URS) | 6.92 |
| 5. | Jodi Anderson (USA) | 6.91 |

### Discus

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | DISTANCE |
| 1. | Irina Meszynski (GDR) | 71.40 |
| 2. | Mariya Petkova (BUL) | 71.20 |
| 3. | Tsvetanka Khristova (BUL) | 70.64 |
| 4. | Galina Savinkova (URS) | 69.90 |
| 5. | Gisela Beyer (GDR) | 69.76 |

### Shot Put

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | DISTANCE |
| 1. | Ilona Slupianek (GDR) | 21.80 |
| 2. | Verzhinia Veselinova (BUL) | 21.61 |
| 3. | Helena Fibingerová (TCH) | 21.55 |
| 4. | Liane Schmuhl (GDR) | 21.27 |
| 5. | Nunu Abashidze (URS) | 21.23 |

### Javelin (old design)

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | DISTANCE |
| 1. | Sofia Sakorafa (GRE) | 74.40 |
| 2. | Tiina Lillak (FIN) | 74.20 |
| 3. | Anna Verouli (GRE) | 70.02 |
| 4. | Petra Rivers (AUS) | 69.28 |
| 5. | Antje Zöllkau (GDR) | 68.38 |

### Heptathlon

| RANK | 1982 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS | POINTS |
| 1. | Ramona Neubert (GDR) | 6845 |
| 2. | Natalya Grachova (URS) | 6646 |
| 3. | Sabine Mobius (GDR) | 6629 |
| 4. | Natalya Shubenkova (URS) | 6524 |
| 5. | Sabine Everts (FRG) | 6523 |

## Births
### January

* January 2 – Athanasia Tsoumeleka, Greek race walker
* January 3 – Eşref Apak, Turkish hammer thrower
* January 5 – Vadims Vasiļevskis, Latvian athlete
* January 12 – Dimitrios Tsiamis, Greek triple jumper
* January 24 – Hamdi Dhouibi, Tunisian decathlete

### February

* February 2 – Dorcus Inzikuru, Ugandan athlete
* February 7 – Rumyana Karapetrova, Bulgarian javelin thrower
* February 8 – Iryna Shtanhyeyeva, Ukrainian sprinter
* February 9 – Zersenay Tadese, Eritrean athlete
* February 10 – Justin Gatlin, American athlete
* February 18 – Krisztián Pars, Hungarian hammer thrower

### March

* March 1 – Leryn Franco, Paraguayan javelin thrower
* March 14 – Yuleidis Limonta, Cuban heptathlete
* March 16 – Inga Kožarenoka, Latvian javelin thrower
* March 25 – Kayoko Fukushi, Japanese long-distance runner
* March 31 – Janice Josephs, South African heptathlete

### April

* April 15 – Jean-Jacques Nkouloukidi, Italian race walker
* April 20 – Arnoud Okken, Dutch middle-distance runner
* April 20 – Dennis Leyckes, German decathlete
* April 25 – Victoria Mitchell, Australian long-distance runner

### May

* May 6 – Dilshod Nazarov, Tajikistani hammer thrower
* May 10 – Yochai Halevi, Israeli long jumper and triple jumper
* May 12 – Marvin Anderson, Jamaican sprinter
* May 15 – Veronica Campbell-Brown, Jamaican athlete
* May 20 – Mihail Stamatoyiannis, Greek shot putter
* May 25 – Ezekiel Kemboi, Kenyan athlete
* May 30 – Phaustin Baha Sulle, Tanzanian long-distance runner

### June

* June 3 – Yelena Isinbayeva, Russian pole vaulter
* June 5 – Fabiano Peçanha, Brazilian middle-distance runner
* June 11 – Vanessa Boslak, French pole vaulter
* June 13 – Kenenisa Bekele, Ethiopian distance runner
* June 25 – Esther Dankwah, Ghanaian sprinter

### July

* July 8 – Park Chil-Sung, South Korean race walker
* July 14 – Vyacheslav Muravyev, Kazakhstani sprinter
* July 23 – Thaimara Rivas, Venezuelan heptathlete

### August

* August 5 – Jo Ankier, British long-distance runner
* August 9 – Robert Häggblom, Finnish shot putter
* August 9 – Byron Piedra, Ecuadorian distance runner
* August 31 – Lien Huyghebaert, Belgian athlete

### September

* September 11 – Elvan Abeylegesse, Ethiopian-born Turkish track and field athlete
* September 15 – Matthew Boyles, American race walker
* September 29 – Salome Chepchumba, Kenyan middle-distance runner

### October

* October 25 – Aarik Wilson, American long jumper and triple jumper

### November

* November 4 – Kamila Skolimowska, Polish hammer thrower (d. 2009)
* November 6 – Loree Smith, American hammer thrower
* November 9 – Eloise Wellings, Australian long-distance runner
* November 11 – Ivan Babaryka, Ukrainian long-distance runner
* November 11 – Asafa Powell, Jamaican sprinter
* November 29 – Andrei Chubsa, Belarusian high jumper

### December

* December 2 – Morten Jensen, Danish long jumper
* December 11 – Darren Gilford, Maltese athlete
* December 25 – Samson Ramadhani, Tanzanian long-distance runner

## Deaths

* April 26 – Ville Ritola (86), Finnish Olympic gold medal runner (b. 1896)
* June 25 – Ed Hamm (76), American athlete (b. 1906)
* June 28 – Wiesław Maniak (41), Polish sprinter (b. 1938)
* August 4 – Henk van der Wal (95), Dutch track and field athlete (b. 1886)