Helsinki World Athletics Championships 1983

The inaugural World Athletics Championships, held in the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki, Finland, were arguably more important than either the previous Olympics in Moscow three years earlier, or the Los Angeles games scheduled for the next year. The reason for that was of course the boycotts that ruined both Olympiads. In 1980, much of the West stayed away from Moscow, in a US-led boycott prompted by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (interestingly, the Great Britain team did attend those games, albeit under the banner of the British Olympic Association and despite intense pressure from the Thatcher government to withdraw). Also of note is the fact that 32 years later in 2012, with Afghanistan now occupied by US and UK forces, nobody stayed away from the London Games.

Similarly, the 1984 Olympics were boycotted by almost the entire Warsaw Pact, led by the Soviet Union and including most of the nations under its sphere of influence, so the first ever World Championship of Athletics took on greater significance as these were the only games to pit the elite athletes from either superpower up against each other. Also during this period, with Germany still separated into two nations, the East German women athletes were posting some incredible times, which were suspected to be artificially enhanced. (The confirmation of this only came after the fall of the Berlin wall some years later, yet the times posted by the likes of Marita Koch remain world records today.)

From a British perspective, there were some real chances of medals, with the middle-distance reign of Ovett and Coe still ongoing. However Seb Coe was battling illness prior to these games and was forced to miss Helsinki, while newcomer Steve Cram had established himself as a prospect in the meantime. Cram went on to win a gold medal in the 1500 metres, while Steve Ovett could only finish fourth, as his star began to wane. Decathlete Daley Thompson reigned supreme in the multi-discipline event, and he delivered the goods once more with another gold medal to add to his Olympic, Commonwealth and European golds. Britain also won several silver and bronze medals, thanks to sprinter Kathy Cook, the men's 4x400m relay team, the women's 4x100m relay team, steeplechaser Colin Reitz and javelin thrower Fatima Whitbread.

The standout memory for me was that women's javelin; Whitbread had led the contest from her first throw and was looking all over the gold medallist, until local heroine Tiina Lillak pulled out a monster throw with her final effort, throwing over 70 metres to snatch gold and leave Whitbread devastated at the side of the track. The pictures showing her inconsolable with her family at the side of the track contrasted sharply with the delirious crowd roaring their appreciation of Lillak's effort. She had produced the host nation's only gold medal in one of their favoured events. To this day, if I ever see a field event where a competitor snatches a win with the last effort (it doesn't matter if it is a javelin, hammer or a shot put) that goes down as 'doing a Tiina' in my book!

Women's javelin, World Athletics Championships Helsinki 1983 (Finnish commentary)


Of course the big star of those games was US sprinter Carl Lewis. He won the 100 metres, beating Olympic Champion Allan Wells comfortably and added a relay gold and long jump gold for good measure. Lewis's supremely confident persona wasn't to everyone's taste, but he went on to dominate his sport for several years afterwards. However, reports of a positive dope test being kept quiet by his own athletics federation have somewhat sullied the memory of his performances.

The 80s saw the East European women utterly dominate, with the aforementioned Marita Koch proving almost unbeatable in sprints. She competed in 100, 200 and 400 metres, unthinkable today but she was immense in all. We now know that East Germany's success was chemically enhanced, but another athlete who was controversial in those days was Jarmila Kratochvilova from Czechoslovakia. Her appearance was extremely masculine, with short brown hair, muscular build looking more like a rugby player and strength that enabled her to keep her form over 400 and 800 metres while others melted away, her performances in 1983 stunned observers. Despite the controversy, she was never tested positive for performance-enhancing substances, although fact that the times she posted would still win gold today have many still convinced her efforts were just too good to be true.

When the World Championships started, they were held every four years in the year following the Olympics. The next two championships were in Rome in 1987, then Tokyo in 1991, after which it was decided to hold the meet biennially. The 2013 championships in Moscow, Russia will mark 30 years since the inaugural meet, and the debate over whether what we see is genuine or enhanced rages as much today as it did then. Until proven otherwise, perhaps we should enjoy what we see as true since watching any sport with a cynical eye merely spoils the enjoyment. Anyway, let's go back in time and here is a montage prepared by the BBC showing many highlights from those first World Championships in Athletics: