The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in

Daegu Daegu (; ), formerly spelled Taegu and officially Daegu Metropolitan City (), is a city in southeastern South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; the fourth-largest List of provincial-level ci ...

, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

topped the medal standings in the competition with 28 (12 gold, 9 silver, and 7 bronze). During the competition, 41 national records, 4 area records, 3 championship records, and 1 world record was set. The championships were heavily affected by post-championship doping cases, particularly from the Russian team, who in subsequent years were stripped of eleven medals, seven of them gold.

Bidding process

On 4 April 2006, the

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

(now

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

) announced that nine countries (

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

and

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

) had submitted expressions of interest for hosting the 2011 World Championships.

Candidates

When the seeking deadline passed on 1 December 2006, four candidate cities (

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

and

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

) had confirmed their candidatures. Gothenburg backed out later that month, citing lack of financial support from the Swedish government.

was announced as the Australian candidate with the

Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre The Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre (QSAC , formerly known as the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Sports Centre) is a Multi-purpose stadium, multi-purpose sports facility in Nathan, Queensland, located south-east of the Brisbane central busin ...

(formerly ANZ Stadium) as the proposed venue for a championships to be held in July or August. The stadium previously hosted the

1982 Commonwealth Games The 1982 Commonwealth Games were held in Brisbane, Australia, from 30 September to 9 October 1982. The Opening Ceremony was held at the QEII Stadium (named after Elizabeth II), in the Brisbane suburb of Nathan. The QEII Stadium was also the ...

and

2001 Goodwill Games The 2001 Goodwill Games was the fifth and final edition of the international multi-sport event. The competition was held in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, from 29 August to 9 September 2001. A total around 1300 athletes took part in 14 sporti ...

. Brisbane also had an unsuccessful bid for 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 ...

was the city chosen for the Korean bid, following on from an initial application to host the 2009 edition. Daegu had previously hosted the

2003 Summer Universiade The 2003 Summer Universiade, also known as the XXII Summer Universiade, took place in Daegu, South Korea. Emblem * The alphabet letter "U" and five stars, which is FISU's emblem, make up the basis of the emblem for the Daegu Universiade. * It sy ...

and four matches of the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

. The

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 ...

had never been staged in mainland Asia, although it has taken place twice in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. The Russian bid had Moscow's

Luzhniki Stadium The Grand Sports Arena of the Luzhniki Olympic Complex, commonly known as Luzhniki Stadium, is the national stadium of Russia, located in its capital city, Moscow. Its total seating capacity of 78,011 makes it the List of football stadiums in R ...

as the proposed venue. The city hosted the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

and the

2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 11th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) was held in Moscow from March 10 to March 12, 2006 in the Olympic Stadium (Moscow arena), Olimpiyski Sport are ...

. Among the intent candidates were

Casablanca Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a populatio ...

(Morocco) and

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enter ...

(Croatia), both of which were failed bidders for the

. The Spanish candidate was rumored to be either

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

, but Spain eventually settled for

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

as a candidate for the

2013 World Championships in Athletics The 14th IAAF World Championships in Athletics (Moscow 2013; ) was an international athletics (sport), athletics competition held in Moscow, Russia, from 10 to 18 August 2013. Initially, Russia at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics, Russia ...

. The United States intent candidate city matched those bidding for the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

Selection

The

announced Daegu as the winning candidate at the IAAF Council Meeting in

Mombasa Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital status in 1907. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...

on 27 March 2007. Its victory was based on "the quality of the stadiums and eetingthe need for good crowds." IAAF's officials also praised Daegu's "ambition and challenging spirit" as key to its winning bid. Both Moscow and Brisbane later confirmed their candidacy to host the

– a selection process won by the Russian capital.

Event schedule

File:2011dongdaegust.jpg, A promotional poster for the event at Dongdaegu Station

:''All dates are KST (

UTC+9 UTC+09:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +09:00. During the Japanese occupations of British Borneo, Burma, Hong Kong, Dutch East Indies, Malaya, Philippines, Singapore, and French Indochina, it was used as a common time with ...

)''

Results

Men

The events in the men's section ended with a world record in 4 × 100 metres relay set by Jamaica and several world's leading results.

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

dominated the sprinting events, while

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

and

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

dominated the longer track events. In the field events, the

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

were most successful, winning four and three gold medals respectively.

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

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, ...

, both from Jamaica, won two gold medals, being the most successful athletes in the men's events. In the 100 m final the largely favored Usain Bolt was disqualified for a

false start In sports, a false start is a disallowed start, usually due to a movement by a participant before (or in some cases after) being signaled or otherwise permitted by the rules to start. Depending on the sport and the event, a false start can resu ...

, enabling

to win the crown with a time of 9.92 s. In the

200 m The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a Sprint (running), 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 th ...

Bolt won with a time of 19.40 s, which was the fastest time ever not to be a world record at that point. Blake and Bolt, along with countrymen

Nesta Carter Nesta Carter OD (born October 11, 1985) is a retired Jamaican sprinter who specialized in the 100 metres event. Carter was successful as part of the Jamaican 4 × 100 metres relay team, taking gold and setting successive world records at the 2 ...

and

Michael Frater Michael Frater O.D (born 6 October 1982) is a Jamaican retired sprinter who specialised in the 100 metres event. He won a silver medal at the 2005 World Championships and a gold medal at the 2003 Pan American Games for the event. He has als ...

, ran in the 4 x 100 metres relay, setting a new world record with a time of 37.04 s. In the 10,000 metres event, World Champion

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 ...

did not finish the race. The world record holder in

800 m The 800 metres, or 800 meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event sin ...

David Rudisha David Lekuta Rudisha, State Commendations of Kenya, MBS (born 17 December 1988) is a retired Kenyan Middle-distance running, middle-distance runner who is the world and Olympic record holder in the 800 metres. Rudisha won gold medals in the 800 ...

, won the event with his first gold medal at the World Championships. On the last day, Kenyan

Abel Kirui Abel Kirui (born 6 April 1982) is a long-distance runner from Kenya who competes in marathons. He had back-to-back wins in the World Championship marathon in 2009 and 2011. Kirui won in 2009 with a time of 2:06:54, then defended his title with a ...

became the third marathon winner to retain the title at the next World Championships, after Abel Anton and Jaouad Gharib. Most of the field events ended with new winners, but

Dwight Phillips Dwight Phillips (born October 1, 1977) is an American former athlete and a four-time world champion in the long jump. He was the 2004 Olympic champion in the event. His personal best of 8.74 meters, set in 2009, makes him the joint fifth ...

retained the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

title, becoming only the second man after

Ivan Pedroso Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was the Bu ...

to win four golds at the World Championships in this event. Ethiopia's

Imane Merga Imane Merga Jida (ኢማነ መርጋ ጂዳ) (born 15 October 1988) is an Ethiopian professional long-distance runner who specializes in the 5000 and 10,000 metres. He won his first world title at the 2011 IAAF World Cross Country Championship ...

was originally awarded the bronze medal in the Men's 5000 metres, but he was later disqualified for having run inside the curb of the running track for some 10 to 15 metres. His teammate

Dejen Gebremeskel Dejen Gebremeskel (Amharic: ደጀን ገብረመስቀል; born 24 November 1989) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who primarily competes in track events. His personal best of 12:46.81 minutes for the 5,000 metres ranks him as the ...

was elevated to the bronze medal as a result. Cuba's

Dayron Robles Dayron Robles (born 19 November 1986) is a Cuban track and field athlete who specialises in the 110 metre hurdles. He won his first major medal (a silver) in the 60 metres hurdles at the 2006 World Indoor Championships. He finished the 2006 seas ...

finished first in the race of the Men's 110 metres hurdles, but was disqualified for interfering with Liu Xiang twice before and over the last barrier.

Jason Richardson Jason Anthoney Richardson Sr. (born January 20, 1981) is an American former professional basketball player who played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Richardson was taken by the Golden State Warriors as the fifth overall ...

was awarded the Gold, Liu the Silver, and Andy Turner promoted to the Bronze medal position.

Track

Field

Women

During the championships,

was the most successful country in the women's events, winning seven gold medals, followed by the

with six. Most successful female athlete was

Allyson Felix Allyson Michelle Felix (born November 18, 1985) is a retired American track and field athlete who competed in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 400 meters. She specialized in the 200 meters from 2003 to 2013, then gradually shifted to the 400 meter ...

having won two relay golds and silver and bronze in her individual events. On the first day of the Championships, the athletes of

made an astonishing performance, winning all six medals available in the two events. Kenya also dominated the long-distance events, while Jamaica and the United States the sprinting. In the field events, Russia was initially dominant, winning four gold medals. Following a series of retests of stored samples and biological passports, a number of athletes were stripped of medals because of doping. Nine medals in eight events were forfeited for doping, eight of them from Russia, including five gold medals. The only Russian medals that survived the post-championship doping purge were two gold medals in the high jump and the hammer throw, and a bronze medals in the pole vault and the 400 metres hurdles. Of the four surviving medalists, a further three were eventually banned for doping. The amended results left the United States the clear leading nation in women's athletics.

Track

Field

Original gold medalist

Mariya Abakumova Mariya Vasiliyevna Abakumova (; born 15 January 1986) is a Russian former track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. Career Abakumova discovered her love for athletics and throwing through her coach Irina Vladimirovna Kamarova. ...

of Russia was stripped of her gold medal.
Original gold medalist

Tatyana Chernova Tatyana Sergeyevna Chernova (; born 29 January 1988 in Krasnodar) is a Russian former heptathlete. She was originally awarded the bronze medals at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics before being stripped of them for doping. A serial offender, a ...

of Russia was stripped of her gold medal on 29 November 2016 by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, with Ennis and Oeser promoted to gold and silver respectively and the bronze awarded to Karolina Tymińska of Poland. File:Valerie Adams Daegu 2011.jpg,

Valerie Adams Dame Valerie Kasanita Adams (formerly Vili; born 6 October 1984) is a retired New Zealand shot putter. She is a four-time World champion, four-time World Indoor champion, two-time Olympic, three-time Commonwealth Games champion and twice IA ...

broke the championship record in the shot put. File:Mariya Abakumova Daegu 2011.jpg,

improved the championship and Russian record in javelin. File:Tatyana Chernova Daegu 2011.jpg,

defeated the defending heptathlon champion

Jessica Ennis Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill (née Ennis; born 28 January 1986) is a British retired athlete who specialised in the heptathlon and 100 metres hurdles. As a competitor in heptathlon, she is the 2012 Olympic champion, a three-time world champion (2 ...

, but was disqualified in 2016 for doping offences.

Anti-doping programme

On 4 November 2011 the IAAF reported that 2 of the 468 urine samples had produced adverse analytical findings. The samples of Portuguese runner

Sara Moreira Sara Isabel Fonseca Moreira (; born 17 October 1985) is a Portuguese runner who competes in cross country, road running and in middle-distance and long-distance track events. She represents Sporting CP at club level. After ...

, a finalist in the women's steeplechase, and Korean relay runner Hee-Nam Lim had both tested positive for

methylhexaneamine 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 ...

. Analysis of blood samples is still ongoing. In March 2012 the Trinidad and Tobago track and field authorities announced that

Semoy Hackett Semoy Kee-Ann Hackett (born 27 November 1988) is a Tobagonian track and field sprint athlete who competed collegiately at Louisiana State University. Her personal best in the 100 m is 11.09, and 22.49 in 200 m. Hackett represented Trinidad and ...

had tested positive for

at the Trinidad and Tobago national championships prior to the World Championships. Her results in the women's 100 metres were annulled and the Trinidadian 4 × 100-metres relay team were also disqualified from fourth place. An anonymous poll conducted by the

World Anti-Doping Agency The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; , AMA) is an international organization co-founded by the governments of over 140 nations along with the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against d ...

at the event showed that an estimated 29% of the athletes present at the World Championships had used a banned substance within the last 12 months.

Medal table

Originally, host nation South Korea failed to win any medals at these championships, a fate shared with Sweden in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

and Canada in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

. However, in 2015, South Korean athlete

Kim Hyun-sub Kim Hyun-sub (, or ; born May 31, 1985) is a race walker from South Korea. He is the first South Korean to win a medal at IAAF World Athletics Championships The World Athletics Championships, known as the IAAF World Championships in Athlet ...

was promoted from sixth place to bronze medalist in the 20 km walk after three Russian race walkers were disqualified for doping offences. ;Key

Participating nations

On the entry lists prior to the competition, a total of 1943 athletes from 202 national teams were set to participate in the 2011 World Championships in Athletics. The number of accredited athletes that actually participated at the event was 1848, while the total of countries represented was 204. # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # (Hosts) # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #

References

External links

Website for the IAAF World Championships in Athletics – Daegu 2011

Entry Standards (IAAF)

Coverage and News
at the Guardian
Flotrack Race Interviews with athletes and Race Videos
{{DEFAULTSORT:2011 World Championships in Athletics World Athletics Championships

Sports competitions in Daegu International athletics competitions hosted by South Korea August 2011 sports events in South Korea September 2011 sports events in South Korea

Bidding process

Candidates

Selection

Event schedule

Results

Men

Track

Field

Women

Track

Field

Anti-doping programme

Medal table

Participating nations

See also

References

External links