1979 World Masters Athletics Championships is the third in a series of World Masters Athletics Outdoor Championships (called World Veterans Championships at the time) that took place in

Hannover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German States of Germany, state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germa ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, from 27 July to 2 August 1979. The main venue was Niedersachsenstadion ( en, Lower Saxony Stadium), which featured a new Olympic-style electronic scoreboard. This stadium has since been rebuilt several times, most extensively in 2003/04. Cross Country was held at Sportpark Hannover (german: Mehrkampfanlage) in Galgenberg. This edition of

masters athletics Masters athletics is a class of the sport of athletics for athletes of over 35 years of age. The events include track and field, road running and cross country running. Competitors are bracketed into five-year age groups (which promotes fair comp ...

Championships had a minimum age limit of 35 years for women and 40 years for men. The governing body of this series is World Association of Veteran Athletes (WAVA). WAVA was formed during meeting at the inaugural edition of this series at

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

in 1975, then officially founded during the second edition in 1977, then renamed as World Masters Athletics (WMA) at the

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Championships In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

in 2001. This Championships was organized by WAVA in coordination with a Local Organising Committee (LOC) of German Athletics Association (german: Deutscher Leichtathletik-Verband, DLV) and K. Wilhelm Köster. In addition to a full range of track and field events, non-stadia events included 10K Cross Country, 10K Race Walk (women), 20K Race Walk (men), and

Marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

Controversy

In 1976, the

International Amateur Athletic Federation World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

(IAAF) had expelled the Amateur Athletic Union of South Africa due to the

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

policy of the South African government at that time, though the WAVA constitution was written in 1977 to be independent of IAAF, stating that Citing the fact that South Africa had been excluded from the

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

since

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...

, DLV meet organizers initially planned to ban South African athletes. After much discussion, a compromise was reached to allow athletes to compete under the flag of

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

().

Results

Past Championships results are archived at WMA. Additional archives are available from Museum of Masters Track & Field as a pdf book, as a searchable pdf, and in pdf newsletters from National Masters News. Selected winners are archived at Athletics Weekly for women and for men. Rare photographs of the blind sprinter Fritz Assmy in competition were included in newspaper clippings from the Museum of Masters Track & Field pdf book, guided by his son-in-law Klaus Hinrichsen in lane 8. Assmy won the M60 100m, 200m, and 400m sprints, anchored the German M60 4 x 100 relay team to gold in a Championships Record time of 50.32, and anchored the German M60 4 x 400 relay team to 4th place. Several masters world records were set at this Championships. John Gilmour () broke 4 world records by himself. World records for 1979 are from the list of new records in the Museum of Masters Track & Field searchable pdf unless otherwise noted.

Women

Men

References

{{World Masters Athletics Championships

World Masters Athletics Championships The World Masters Athletics Championships are the biennial championships for masters athletics events held under the auspices of World Masters Athletics, formerly called the World Association of Veteran Athletes, for athletes 35 years of age or o ...

International athletics competitions hosted by Germany

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

Masters athletics (track and field) records