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HISTORY The idea of having an Athletics World Championships was around well before the competitions first event in 1983 . In 1913 , the IAAF decided that the Olympic Games would serve as the World Championships for athletics. This was considered suitable for over 50 years until in the 1960's the desire of many IAAF members to have their own World Championships began to grow. In 1976 at the IAAF Council Meeting in Puerto Rico an Athletics World Championships separate from the Olympic Games was approved. Following bids from both Stuttgart , Germany and Helsinki , Finland , the IAAF Council awarded the inaugural competition to Helsinki, to take place in 1983 and be held in the Helsinki Olympic Stadium (where the 1952 Summer Olympics were held). Over the years the competition has grown in size. In 1983 an estimated 1,300 athletes from 154 countries participated. By the 2003 competition, in Paris , it had grow to 1,907 athletes from 203 countries with coverage being transmitted to 179 different countries. There has also been a change in the schedule over the years, with several new events, mostly for women, being added. By the 2005 the schedule for men and women was all but equal. The only differences being the men had the extra event of the 50 Km Walk , while women competed in the 100 M Hurdles and Heptathlon compared to the men in the 110m Hurdles and Decathlon respectively. The following shows when new events were added for the first time.
CHAMPIONSHIPS OTHER ATHLETICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP EVENTS Prior to the inaugral IAAF World Championships in Helsinki in 1983 there had been several single events and races in the years leading up to them which were considered World Championships in those events. These mostly consisted of non-Olympic events for which the Olympics didn't provide the opportunity for the holding of World Championships. Below we have the medal winners from these events. 1976 ( Malmo , Sweden ) 1980 ( Sittard , Netherlands ) EXTERNAL LINKS |