This article contains an overview of the year 2009 in

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

. The major competition of the year was the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15 to 23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenbu ...

. At the event,

Usain Bolt Usain St. Leo Bolt (; born 21 August 1986) is a Jamaican retired sprinter who is widely regarded as the greatest sprinter of all time. He is an eight-time Olympic gold medalist and the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, ...

reaffirmed himself as one of the world's foremost athletes with

world records A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

in the

100 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standard SI prefix for a hundred is " hecto-". 100 is the b ...

and

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slight ...

Caster Semenya Caster Semenya Order of Ikhamanga, OIB (born 7 January 1991) is a South African middle-distance runner and winner of two Olympic medal, Olympic gold medals and three World Athletics Championships, World Championships in the women's 800 metres ...

won 800 m gold at the championships, but a request that she submit to a gender verification test was made public, sparking widespread controversy and debate.

Yelena Isinbayeva Yelena Gadzhievna Isinbayeva ( rus, Елена Гаджиевна Исинбаева, p=jɪˈlʲɛnə gɐˈdʐɨjɪvnə ɪsʲɪnˈbajɪvə; born 3 June 1982) is a Russian former pole vaulter. She is twice an Olympic gold medalist (2004 and 200 ...

, a clear favourite, finished last in the pole vault competition, but rebounded with a world record a week later.

Kenenisa Bekele Kenenisa Bekele Beyecha (; ; born 13 June 1982) is an Ethiopian Long-distance running, long-distance runner. He was the world record holder in both the 5000 metres, 5,000-metre and 10000 metres, 10,000-metre from 2004 until 2020. He won the go ...

, Sanya Richards and Isinbayeva were the winners of the last

IAAF Golden League The IAAF Golden League was an annual series of outdoor track and field meetings organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). Athletes who won specific events at all of the series meetings were awarded a jackpot prize ...

jackpot, as the series was replaced by the

IAAF Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fifteen invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics one-day meet competitions. The inaugural season was ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Major events

World

World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships, known as the IAAF World Championships in Athletics until 2019, are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics, formerly International Association of Athletics Federations. Alongside Olympic ...

* World Half Marathon Championships * World Cross Country Championships * World Athletics Final * World Youth Championships * Golden League * World Student Games

Regional

* African Junior Championships * CAC Championships * South American Championships * Pan American Junior Championships *

Jeux de la Francophonie The Jeux de la Francophonie (Canadian English: ''Francophonie Games''; British English: ''Francophone Games'') are a combination of artistic and sporting events for the Francophonie, mostly French-speaking nations and former colonies of France ...

* Lusophony Games * European Team Championships *

European Indoor Championships The European Indoor Championships was a men's tennis tournament played in Berlin, Germany. The event was played as part of the ATP Tour in 1990 and 1991. It was played on indoor carpet court A carpet court is a type of tennis court. The Intern ...

* European Junior Championships * European U23 Championships * European Cross Country Championships * European Mountain Running Championships * European Race Walking Cup *

Mediterranean Games The Mediterranean Games is a multi-sport event organised by the International Committee of Mediterranean Games (CIJM). It is held every four years among athletes from countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea in Africa, Asia and Europe. The fi ...

* Asian Championships *

Asian Indoor Games The Asian Indoor Games were a multi-sport event that was contested every two years among athletes representing countries from Asia. The games were regulated by the Olympic Council of Asia. The first games were held in 2005 in Bangkok, Thailand. ...

East Asian Games The East Asian Games was a multi-sport event organized by the East Asian Games Association and held every four years from 1993 to 2013. Among those who competed included athletes from East Asian countries and territories of the Olympic Council ...

Southeast Asian Games The Southeast Asian Games, commonly known as SEA Games is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with sup ...

Asian Youth Games The Asian Youth Games, also known as AYG, is a multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games have been organized by the Olympic Council of Asia. The Games are described as the second-largest continental mul ...

Maccabiah Games The Maccabiah Games (, or משחקי המכביה העולמית; sometimes referred to as the "Jewish Olympics") is an international multi-sport event with summer and winter sports competitions featuring Jews and Israelis regardless of religion ...

National

* China National Games * German Championships * Finnish Championships * Lithuanian Championships * USA Outdoor Championships

World records

Men

Women

Season's bests

Awards

Men

Women

Doping

Incidents of athletes testing positive for banned substances were low-key compared to previous years. The IAAF conducted their largest ever anti-doping program at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics, and

Jamel Chatbi Jamel Chatbi (born 30 April 1984) is a Morocco, Moroccan-born athlete who specialises in the 3000 metres steeplechase and competes for Italy. Chatbi has been banned twice from competition during his career for doping violations. Career Chatbi be ...

and Nigerian hurdler Amaka Ogoegbunam were the only athletes who tested positive. Five Jamaican sprint athletes, including

Yohan Blake Yohan Blake (born 26 December 1989) is a Jamaican sprinter specialising in the 100 metres, 100-metre and 200 metres, 200-metre sprint races. He won gold at the 100 m at the 2011 World Athletics Championships as the youngest 100 m world champion ...

and Sheri-Ann Brooks, tested positive for

Methylhexanamine Methylhexanamine (also known as methylhexamine, 1,3-dimethylamylamine, 1,3-DMAA, dimethylamylamine, and DMAA; trade names Forthane and Geranamine) is an indirect sympathomimetic drug invented and developed by Eli Lilly and Company and marketed ...

prior to the world championships. Four of the athletes received three-month bans, while Brooks was cleared on a technicality. A Brazilian coach, Jayme Netto, admitted that he had administered the banned drug recombinant EPO on five of his athletes without their knowledge. South American champion Lucimar Teodoro was another high-profile Brazilian athlete to be banned.

Retirements

Kim Collins Kim Collins (born 5 April 1976) is a former Saint Kitts and Nevis, Kittitian track and field sprint (running), sprinter. In 2003, he became the World Championships in Athletics, World Champion in the 100 metres. He represented his country at the ...

, 100 m gold medallist at the 2003 World Championships. (returned to competition in 2010) * Stacy Dragila, Olympic gold medallist, two-time World Champion, and former world record holder in the pole vault. * Yulia Pechonkina, 2005 World Champion in the 400 m hurdles, and current world record holder.Illness ends Pechonkina's career

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...

(2009-09-28). Retrieved on 2009-09-28.

Deaths

*February 18 — Kamila Skolimowska (26), Polish hammer thrower (born 1982) *April 6 — Svetlana Ulmasova (56), Uzbekistani long-distance runner (born 1953) *May 8 — Fons Brydenbach (54), Belgian sprinter (born 1954) *June 27 — Nanae Nagata (53), Japanese long-distance runner (born 1956) *October 2 — Jørgen Jensen (65), Danish long-distance runner (born 1944) *October 25 — Ingeborg Mello (90), Argentine discus thrower and shot putter (born 1919)

References

{{Years in Athletics Athletics (track and field) by year