The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The United States 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.

Bidding process

On 4 April 2006, the

IAAF 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 fo ...

announced that nine countries (United States, South Korea, Australia, Sweden, Spain, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Croatia and Morocco) 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 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 ...

, Daegu, Moscow and Gothenburg) had confirmed their candidatures. Gothenburg backed out later that month, citing lack of financial support from the Swedish government. Brisbane was announced as the Australian candidate with the

Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

(formally ANZ Stadium) as the proposed venue for a championships to be held in July or August. The stadium previously hosted the 1982 Commonwealth Games and 2001 Goodwill Games. 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 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenbur ...

. Daegu 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 and three 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 football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea ...

. The World Championships in Athletics had never been staged in mainland Asia, although it has taken place twice in Japan. The Russian bid had Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium as the proposed venue. The city hosted the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

and the 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships. Among the intent candidates were Casablanca (Morocco) and Split (Croatia), both of which were failed bidders for the

. The Spanish candidate was rumored to be either

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), an ...

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

, but Spain eventually settled for

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern 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 ...

as a candidate for the 2013 World Championships in Athletics. The United States intent candidate city matched those bidding for the 2016 Summer Olympics:

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Selection

The IAAF 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 the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. 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 2013 World Championships in Athletics – a selection process won by the Russian capital.

Event schedule

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

Dongdaegu Station Dongdaegu Station, meaning "East Daegu Station", is a railway station in Daegu, South Korea. It is on the national high-speed KTX railway network, south of Seoul Station. History The station opened in 1962 and KTX trains on the Gyeongbu Li ...

:''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 x 100 metres relay set by Jamaica and several world's leading results.

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispan ...

dominated the sprinting events, while

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

and

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the Er ...

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

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

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-metre and 200-metre sprint races. He won gold at the 100 m at the 2011 World Athletics Championships as the youngest 100 m world champion ever, and a silver me ...

and

Usain Bolt Usain St. Leo Bolt, , (; born 21 August 1986) is a retired Jamaican sprinter, widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time. He is the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 × 100 metres relay. An eight-ti ...

, 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 result ...

, 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 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 slightly ...

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 x 100 metres relay team, taking gold and setting successive world records at the 20 ...

and Michael Frater, 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 ( om, Qananiisaa baqqalaa; am, ቀነኒሳ በቀለ; born 13 June 1982) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. He was the world record holder in both the 5000-metre and 10000-metre from 2004 (5,000m) and 2005 (10,000m) unti ...

did not finish the race. The world record holder in

800 m The 800 metres, or 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 since th ...

David Rudisha David Lekuta Rudisha, MBS (born 17 December 1988) is a Kenyan middle-distance runner who specialized in the 800 metres. He is a two-time back-to-back Olympic champion from the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympics, a two-time World champion from ...

, 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 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 Bulgari ...

to win four golds at the World Championships in this event. Ethiopia's Imane Merga 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 (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 5000 metres ranks him as the fifth fastest of all time for the distance. H ...

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 Liu Xiang or Liuxiang may refer to: People *Liu Xiang, Prince of Qi (died 179 BC), prince during the Han dynasty *Liu Xiang, Prince of Liang (died 97 BC), prince during the Han dynasty *Liu Xiang (scholar) (77 BC – 6 BC), Han dynasty scholar-off ...

twice before and over the last barrier. Jason Richardson was awarded the Gold, Liu the Silver, and Andy Turner promoted to the Bronze medal position.

Track

Field

Women

During the championships,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

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 me ...

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

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

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 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.

Track

Field

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

Tatyana Chernova Tatyana Sergeyevna Chernova (russian: Татьяна Серге́евна Чернова; 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 befo ...

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 broke the championship record in the shot put. File:Mariya Abakumova Daegu 2011.jpg, Mariya Abakumova 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 (born 28 January 1986) is a British retired track and field athlete from England, specialising in multi-eventing disciplines and 100 metres hurdles. As a competitor in heptathlon, she is the 2012 Olympic champion, ...

, 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. Analysis of blood samples is still ongoing. In March 2012 the Trinidad and Tobago track and field authorities announced that Semoy Hackett had tested positive for methylhexaneamine 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 x 100-metre relay team were also disqualified from fourth place. An anonymous poll conducted by the

World Anti-Doping Agency The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; french: Agence mondiale antidopage, AMA) is a foundation initiated by the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against drugs in sports. The agency's k ...

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 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

and Canada in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...

. However, in 2015, South Korean athlete Kim Hyun-sub 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

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

Sport 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