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 for ...
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 Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...
,
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
, established_ ...
(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.
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 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
Luzhniki Stadium ( rus, стадион «Лужники», p=stədʲɪˈon lʊʐnʲɪˈkʲi, ''Stadion Luzhniki'') is the national stadium of Russia, located in its capital city, Moscow. The full name of the stadium is Grand Sports Arena of the ...
as the proposed venue. The city hosted the
1980 Summer Olympics and the
2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships.
Among the intent candidates were
Casablanca (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, entertai ...
(Croatia), both of which were failed bidders for the
2009 World Championships in Athletics. 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), and ...
or
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 ci ...
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 = Country
, subdivision_name ...
,
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
or
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 wit ...
)''
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 His ...
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 ...
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 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and
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 ...
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 m ...
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- ...
, 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
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 m ...
to win the crown with a time of 9.92 s. In the
200 m 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 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 al ...
, 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,
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 t ...
, 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 ...
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 b ...
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 ...
title, becoming only the second man after
Ivan Pedroso 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 Championships ...
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. ...
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 sea ...
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 (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 pic ...
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 List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
was the most successful country in the women's events, winning seven gold medals, followed by 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 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
with six. Most successful female athlete was
Allyson Felix 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
Mariya Vasiliyevna Abakumova (russian: Мария Васильевна Абакумова; 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 ...
of Russia was stripped of her gold medal.
Original gold medalist
Tatyana Chernova 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 IAAF ...
broke the championship record in the shot put.
File:Mariya Abakumova Daegu 2011.jpg, Mariya Abakumova
Mariya Vasiliyevna Abakumova (russian: Мария Васильевна Абакумова; 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 ...
improved the championship and Russian record in javelin.
File:Tatyana Chernova Daegu 2011.jpg, Tatyana Chernova 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
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 a ...
. 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 100m is 11.09, and 22.49 in 200m.
Hackett represented Trinidad and To ...
had 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 a ...
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 key ...
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 and Canada in
2001.
However, in 2015, South Korean athlete
Kim Hyun-sub
Kim Hyun-sub (, or ; born May 31, 1985) is a male race walker from South Korea. He is the first South Korean person who obtained a medal at IAAF World Athletics Championships
The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World ...
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)
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
See also
* 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships
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 Ol ...
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 Ol ...
Sport in Daegu
International athletics competitions hosted by South Korea
August 2011 sports events in South Korea
September 2011 sports events in South Korea