1977 World Masters Athletics Championships is the second in a series of World Masters Athletics Outdoor Championships (called World Masters Championships or World Veterans Championships at the time) that took place in

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, from 8 to 13 August 1977. The main venue was Slottsskogsvallen. Supplemental venues included

Ullevi Stadium Ullevi, sometimes known as Nya Ullevi (, ''New Ullevi''), is a multi-purpose stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden. It was built for the 1958 FIFA World Cup, but since then has also hosted the World Allround Speed Skating Championships six times; th ...

for 5K and 10K races, the former Gothenburg-

Särö Särö () is an area in Kungsbacka Municipality, Halland County, Sweden, with 3,165 inhabitants in 2010. It is located south of Gothenburg on the Särö peninsula. Geographically, the peninsula marks the transition from the Bohuslän archipelago i ...

railroad route for Marathon, and the park aroun
Björngårdsvillan
for Cross Country and Road Walks. 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 age groups for women are now in 5-year (rather than 10-year as in

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

) divisions, same as for men. The governing body of this series is World Association of Veteran Athletes (WAVA, initially called World Veterans Athletic Association). 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 and named when its constitution was proposed during General Assembly at this edition on 9 August 1977. WAVA was renamed as

World Masters Athletics World Masters Athletics (WMA) is the worldwide governing body for the sport of masters athletics – which includes track and field, cross country, and road running events – as participated by people over 35 years of age. As the need became ap ...

(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 2001. This Championships was organized by the nascent WAVA in coordination with a Local Organising Committee (LOC) led by Roland Jerneryd (). Jerneryd was elected WAVA secretary at the General Assembly. In addition to a full range of track and field events, non-stadia events included 8K Cross Country 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

A major issue at the WAVA founding was

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, which had been expelled by 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) in 1976 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. The WAVA constitution was written to be independent of IAAF, and stated that Nevertheless, South African participation was not settled when the meet began, before the WAVA constitution was proposed, and several athletes from South Africa (and

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 ...

) registered as Americans. The issue of South African athletes remained controversial until South Africa rejoined IAAF in 1992, after the end of the apartheid system.

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 a pdf newsletter. Several masters world records were set at this Championships, including M40 5k run and 3k steeplechase by 1964 Olympic gold medalist

Gaston Roelants Gaston, Baron Roelants (born 5 February 1937), is a Belgian former elite steeplechaser and cross country runner. He won the 1962 European and 1964 Olympic titles in the 3000 m steeplechase and twice broke the world record. Biography Roelants ...

, and M40 discus by four-time

Olympic Champion This article includes lists of all Olympic medalists since 1896, organized by each Olympic sport or discipline, and also by Olympiad. Medalist with most medals by sport Summer Olympic sports Winter Olympic sports A. Including military patrol e ...

Al Oerter Alfred Oerter Jr. (September 19, 1936 – October 1, 2007) was an American athlete and a four-time Olympic Games, Olympic Champion in the discus throw. He was the first athlete to win a gold medal in the same individual event in four consecut ...

. The blind sprinter

Fritz Assmy Fritz Assmy (11 June 1915 – 11 June 2000) was a blind China, Chinese-Germany, German masters athletics Sprint (running), sprinter. He has set numerous Masters Athletics World Records, masters world records in sprint events from 100 to 400 meter ...

wowed the crowd with 2 victories in the M60 100m and 200m, guided by his son-in-law Klaus Hinrichsen in lane 8. World records for 1977 are from WMA unless otherwise noted.

Women

No world records were reported. Among the notable performances, American

Miki Gorman Michiko "Miki" Suwa Gorman (August 9, 1935 – September 19, 2015) was an American marathon runner of Japanese ancestry. Gorman did not begin running competitively until she was in her mid-30s, but rapidly emerged as one of the elite marathoning ...

won the W40 1500m, 3000m, cross-country, and marathon, while Irish Maeve Kyle won the W45 in 100m, 400m, high jump and long jump.

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 Sweden

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

Masters athletics (track and field) records