1997 World Championships in Athletics

6th World Championships in Athletics
Host city	Athens, Greece
Nations participating	198
Athletes participating	1882
Dates	August 1–10, 1997
Officially opened by	President Konstantinos Stephanopoulos
Main venue	Olympic Stadium
	← 1995 Gothenburg 1999 Seville →

The 6th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Amateur Athletic Federation, were held at the Olympic Stadium, Athens, Greece between August 1 and August 10, 1997. In this event participated 1882 athletes from 198 participant nations.^[1] Athens used the successful organization of the World Championships the next month during the IOC Session in Lausanne during its campaign to host the 2004 Summer Olympics as proof positive of Athens' and Greece's ability and readiness to organize large-scale, international sporting events.

Men's results[]

Track[]

1993 | 1995 | 1997 | 1999 | 2001

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres details	Maurice Greene (USA)	9.86	Donovan Bailey (CAN)	9.91	Tim Montgomery (USA)	9.94
200 metres details	Ato Boldon (TRI)	20.04	Frankie Fredericks (NAM)	20.23	Claudinei Quirino (BRA)	20.26
400 metres details	Michael Johnson (USA)	44.12	Davis Kamoga (UGA)	44.37 NR	Tyree Washington (USA)	44.39 PB
800 metres details	Wilson Kipketer (DEN)	1:43.38	Norberto Téllez (CUB)	1:44.00	Rich Kenah (USA)	1:44.25 PB
1500 metres details	Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR)	3:35.83	Fermín Cacho (ESP)	3:36.63	Reyes Estévez (ESP)	3:37.26
5000 metres details	Daniel Komen (KEN)	13:07.38	Khalid Boulami (MAR)	13:09.34	Tom Nyariki (KEN)	13:11.09
10,000 metres details	Haile Gebrselassie (ETH)	27:24.58	Paul Tergat (KEN)	27:25.62	Salah Hissou (MAR)	27:28.67 PB
Marathon details	Abel Antón (ESP)	2:13:16	Martín Fiz (ESP)	2:13:21	Steve Moneghetti (AUS)	2:14:16
110 metres hurdles details	Allen Johnson (USA)	12.93 WL	Colin Jackson (GBR)	13.05	Igor Kováč (SVK)	13.18
400 metres hurdles details	Stéphane Diagana (FRA)	47.70 WL	Llewellyn Herbert (RSA)	47.86 NR	Bryan Bronson (USA)	47.88
3000 metres steeplechase details	Wilson Boit Kipketer (KEN)	8:05.84	Moses Kiptanui (KEN)	8:06.04	Bernard Barmasai (KEN)	8:06.04
20 kilometres walk details	Daniel García (MEX)	1:21:43	Mikhail Shchennikov (RUS)	1:21:53	Mikhail Khmelnitskiy (BLR)	1:22:01
50 kilometres walk details	Robert Korzeniowski Poland (POL)	3:44:46	Jesús Ángel García (ESP)	3:44:59	Miguel Ángel Rodríguez (MEX)	3:48:30
4 × 100 metres relay details	(CAN) Robert Esmie Glenroy Gilbert Bruny Surin Donovan Bailey Carlton Chambers*	37.86 WL	(NGR) Osmond Ezinwa Olapade Adeniken Francis Obikwelu Davidson Ezinwa	38.07	(GBR) Darren Braithwaite Darren Campbell Douglas Walker Julian Golding Marlon Devonish* Dwain Chambers*	38.14
4 × 400 metres relay details^[nb1]	(GBR) Iwan Thomas Roger Black Jamie Baulch Mark Richardson Mark Hylton*	2:56.65	(JAM) Michael McDonald Greg Haughton Danny McFarlane Davian Clarke Linval Laird*	2:56.75 NR	Poland (POL) Tomasz Czubak Piotr Rysiukiewicz Piotr Haczek Robert Maćkowiak	3:00.26
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.

^nb1 The United States (Jerome Young, Antonio Pettigrew, Chris Jones, and Tyree Washington) originally won the 4 × 400 m relay in 2:56.47, but were disqualified in 2009 after Antonio Pettigrew admitted to using HGH and EPO between 1997 and 2003.^[2]

Field[]

1993 | 1995 | 1997 | 1999 | 2001

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
High jump details	Javier Sotomayor (CUB)	2.37 m WL	Artur Partyka Poland (POL)	2.35 m	Tim Forsyth (AUS)	2.35 m
Pole vault details	Sergey Bubka (UKR)	6.01 m CR/WL	Maksim Tarasov (RUS)	5.96 m	Dean Starkey (USA)	5.91 m
Long jump details	Iván Pedroso (CUB)	8.42 m	Erick Walder (USA)	8.38 m	Kirill Sosunov (RUS)	8.18 m
Triple jump details	Yoelbi Quesada (CUB)	17.85 m WL/NR	Jonathan Edwards (GBR)	17.69 m	Aliecer Urrutia (CUB)	17.64 m
Shot put details^[nb2]	John Godina (USA)	21.44 m	Oliver-Sven Buder (GER)	21.24 m	C.J. Hunter (USA)	20.33 m
Discus throw details	Lars Riedel (GER)	68.54 m	Virgilijus Alekna (LTU)	66.70 m	Jürgen Schult (GER)	66.14 m
Hammer throw details	Heinz Weis (GER)	81.78 m	Andriy Skvaruk (UKR)	81.46 m	Vasiliy Sidorenko (RUS)	80.76 m
Javelin throw details	Marius Corbett (RSA)	88.40 m AR	Steve Backley (GBR)	86.80 m	Kostas Gatsioudis Greece (GRE)	86.64 m
Decathlon details	Tomáš Dvořák (CZE)	8837 pts CR/WL/NR	Eduard Hämäläinen (FIN)	8730 pts NR	Frank Busemann (GER)	8652 pts
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)

^nb2 Aleksandr Bagach of Ukraine originally won the shot put with 21.47 m, but was disqualified after he tested positive for steroids.

Women's results[]

Track[]

1993 | 1995 | 1997 | 1999 | 2001

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres details	Marion Jones (USA)	10.83 WL	Zhanna Pintusevich (UKR)	10.85	Savatheda Fynes (BAH)	11.03 PB
200 metres details	Zhanna Pintusevich (UKR)	22.32	Susanthika Jayasinghe (SRI)	22.39	Merlene Ottey (JAM)	22.40
400 metres details	Cathy Freeman (AUS)	49.77	Sandie Richards (JAM)	49.79 PB	Jearl Miles Clark (USA)	49.90
800 metres details	Ana Fidelia Quirot (CUB)	1:57.14	Yelena Afanasyeva (RUS)	1:57.56	Maria Mutola (MOZ)	1:57.59
1500 metres details	Carla Sacramento (POR)	4:04.24	Regina Jacobs (USA)	4:04.63	Anita Weyermann (SUI)	4:04.70
5000 metres details	Gabriela Szabo (ROU)	14:57.68	Roberta Brunet Italy (ITA)	14:58.29	Fernanda Ribeiro (POR)	14:58.85
10,000 metres details	Sally Barsosio (KEN)	31:32.92 WJR	Fernanda Ribeiro (POR)	31:39.15	Masako Chiba (JPN)	31:41.93
Marathon details	Hiromi Suzuki (JPN)	2:29:48	Manuela Machado (POR)	2:31:12	Lidia Șimon (ROU)	2:31:55
10 kilometres walk details	Annarita Sidoti Italy (ITA)	42:55.49 WL	Olga Kardopoltseva (BLR)	43:30.20	Valentina Tsybulskaya (BLR)	43:49.24
100 metres hurdles details	Ludmila Engquist (SWE)	12.50	Svetla Dimitrova (BUL)	12.58	Michelle Freeman (JAM)	12.61
400 metres hurdles details	Nezha Bidouane (MAR)	52.97 AR	Deon Hemmings (JAM)	53.09	Kim Batten (USA)	53.52
4 × 100 metres relay details	(USA) Chryste Gaines Marion Jones Inger Miller Gail Devers	41.47 CR/AR	(JAM) Beverly McDonald Merlene Frazer Juliet Cuthbert Beverly Grant	42.10	(FRA) Patricia Girard-Léno Christine Arron Delphine Combe Sylviane Félix Frédérique Bangué*	42.21 NR
4 × 400 metres relay details	(GER) Anke Feller Uta Rohländer Anja Rücker Grit Breuer	3:20.92 WL	(USA) Maicel Malone-Wallace Kim Graham Kim Batten Jearl Miles Clark Michelle Collins* Natasha Kaiser-Brown*	3:21.03	(JAM) Inez Turner Lorraine Graham Deon Hemmings Sandie Richards Nadia Graham-Hutchinson*	3:21.30 NR
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[]

1993 | 1995 | 1997 | 1999 | 2001

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
High jump details	Hanne Haugland (NOR)	1.99 m	Olga Kaliturina (RUS) Inha Babakova (UKR)	1.96 m	Not awarded
Long jump details	Lyudmila Galkina (RUS)	7.05 m WL/PB	Niki Xanthou Greece (GRE)	6.94 m	Fiona May Italy (ITA)	6.91 m
Triple jump details	Šárka Kašpárková (CZE)	15.20 m WL/NR)	Rodica Mateescu (ROU)	15.16 m NR	Olena Hovorova (UKR)	14.67 m PB
Shot put details	Astrid Kumbernuss (GER)	20.71 m	Vita Pavlysh (UKR)	20.66 m	Stephanie Storp (GER)	19.22 m
Discus throw details	Beatrice Faumuina (NZL)	66.82 m	Ellina Zvereva (BLR)	65.90 m	Natalya Sadova (RUS)	65.14 m
Javelin throw details	Trine Hattestad (NOR)	68.78 m	Joanna Stone (AUS)	68.64 m PB	Tanja Damaske (GER)	67.12 m PB
Heptathlon details	Sabine Braun (GER)	6739 pts	Denise Lewis (GBR)	6654 pts	Remigija Nazarovienė (LTU)	6566 pts
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[]

Beer glass with championships branding

* Host nation (Greece)


Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	6	3	8	17
2	Germany (GER)	5	1	4	10
3	Cuba (CUB)	4	1	1	6
4	Kenya (KEN)	3	2	2	7
5	Ukraine (UKR)	2	4	1	7
6	Morocco (MAR)	2	1	1	4
7	Czech Republic (CZE)	2	0	0	2
7	Norway (NOR)	2	0	0	2
9	Russia (RUS)	1	4	3	8
10	Great Britain (GBR)	1	4	1	6
11	Spain (ESP)	1	3	1	5
12	Portugal (POR)	1	2	1	4
13	Australia (AUS)	1	1	2	4
14	Italy (ITA)	1	1	1	3
	Poland (POL)	1	1	1	3
	Romania (ROM)	1	1	1	3
17	Canada (CAN)	1	1	0	2
17	South Africa (RSA)	1	1	0	2
19	France (FRA)	1	0	1	2
	Japan (JPN)	1	0	1	2
	Mexico (MEX)	1	0	1	2
22	Denmark (DEN)	1	0	0	1
	Ethiopia (ETH)	1	0	0	1
	New Zealand (NZL)	1	0	0	1
	Sweden (SWE)	1	0	0	1
	Trinidad and Tobago (TRI)	1	0	0	1
27	Jamaica (JAM)	0	4	3	7
28	Belarus (BLR)	0	2	2	4
29	Greece (GRE)*	0	1	1	2
29	Lithuania (LTU)	0	1	1	2
31	Bulgaria (BUL)	0	1	0	1
	Finland (FIN)	0	1	0	1
	Namibia (NAM)	0	1	0	1
	Nigeria (NGR)	0	1	0	1
	Sri Lanka (SRI)	0	1	0	1
	Uganda (UGA)	0	1	0	1
37	Bahamas (BAH)	0	0	1	1
	Brazil (BRA)	0	0	1	1
	Mozambique (MOZ)	0	0	1	1
	Slovakia (SVK)	0	0	1	1
	Switzerland (SUI)	0	0	1	1
Totals (41 nations)		44	45	43	132

Source: [2]

References[]

^ [1]. Accessed 2009-04-03. Archived 2009-05-10.
^ "Archived copy". www2.iaaf.org. Archived from the original on 4 October 2009. Retrieved 15 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

IAAF 1997

[1] [1]. Accessed 2009-04-03. Archived 2009-05-10.

[2] "Archived copy". www2.iaaf.org. Archived from the original on 4 October 2009. Retrieved 15 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[1]

[nb1]

[2]

[nb2]

v t World Athletics Championships
Early editions	Malmö 1976 (one event only) Sittard 1980 (two events only)
Championships	Helsinki 1983 Rome 1987 Tokyo 1991 Stuttgart 1993 Gothenburg 1995 Athens 1997 Seville 1999 Edmonton 2001 Saint-Denis 2003 Helsinki 2005 Osaka 2007 Berlin 2009 Daegu 2011 Moscow 2013 Beijing 2015 London 2017 Doha 2019 Eugene 2022 Budapest 2023 TBD 2025
Related lists	Championships records Doping Medalists Men Women Medal sweeps Medal table Nations
Disciplines	100 m 200 m 400 m 800 m 1500 m 5000 m 10,000 m 4 × 100 m relay 4 × 400 m relay 400 m hurdles Steeplechase Marathon Shot put Discus throw Hammer throw Javelin throw Pole vault High jump Long jump