This article contains an overview of the year 2009 in

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

. The major competition of the year was 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 Brandenburg ...

. At the event,

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 ...

reaffirmed himself as one of the world's foremost athletes with

world records A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

in the

100 100 or one hundred ( Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...

and

200 metres 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 slightl ...

Caster Semenya Mokgadi Caster Semenya OIB (born 7 January 1991) is a South African middle-distance runner and winner of two Olympic gold medals and three World Championships in the women's 800 metres. She first won gold at the World Championships in 2009 ...

won 800 m gold at the championships, but a request that she submit to a gender verification test was made public, sparking widespread controversy and debate.

Yelena Isinbayeva Yelena Gadzhievna Isinbayeva ( rus, Елена Гаджиевна Исинбаева, p=jɪˈlʲɛnə gɐˈdʐɨjɪvnə ɪsʲɪnˈbajɪvə; born 3 June 1982) is a Russian former pole vaulter. She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist (2004 and 20 ...

, a clear favourite, finished last in the pole vault competition, but rebounded with a world record a week later.

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 ...

Sanya Richards Sanya Richards-Ross (née Richards; born February 26, 1985) is a retired Jamaican-American track and field athlete, who competed internationally for the United States in the 400-meter sprint. Her notable accolades in this event include being th ...

and Isinbayeva were the winners of the last

IAAF Golden League The IAAF Golden League was an annual series of outdoor track and field meetings organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). Athletes who won specific events at all of the series meetings were awarded a jackpot prize, ...

jackpot, as the series was replaced by the

IAAF Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...

in 2010.

Major events

World

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 Half Marathon Championships The World Athletics Half Marathon Championships is a biennial international half marathon competition organised by World Athletics. The competition was launched as the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in 1992 and held annually until 2010. It ...

* World Cross Country Championships *

World Athletics Final The IAAF World Athletics Final was an annual track and field competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). It was inaugurated in 2003 to replace the IAAF Grand Prix Final. The competition was part of the ...

* World Youth Championships * Golden League * World Student Games

Regional

* African Junior Championships * CAC Championships * South American Championships * Pan American Junior Championships *

Jeux de la Francophonie The Jeux de la Francophonie (Canadian English: ''Francophonie Games''; British English: ''Francophone Games'') are a combination of artistic and sporting events for the Francophonie, mostly French-speaking nations and former colonies of France, ...

Lusophony Games The Lusofonia Games ( pt, Jogos da Lusofonia) is a multinational multi-sport event organized by the ACOLOP, which involves athletes coming from Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking) countries. Most countries competing are countries that are members o ...

* European Team Championships * European Indoor Championships * European Junior Championships * European U23 Championships *

European Cross Country Championships The European Cross Country Championships is an annual international cross country running competition. Organised by the European Athletic Association, it is the area championships for the region and is held in December each year. The championship ...

European Mountain Running Championships The European Mountain Running Championships is an annual international mountain running race. Inaugurated in 2002, it is organised by the European Athletic Association (EAA) in July each year. The venue for the championships is changed each year. ...

European Race Walking Cup The European Race Walking Team Championships (European Race Walking Cup until 2021) is a race walking event established in 1996, and organised by the European Athletic Association. In 1996, the team scores were calculated by aggregating the point ...

* Mediterranean Games *

Asian Championships An Asian Championship is a top level international sports competition between Asian athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. List of Championships (Summer Olympic Sports) ;Aquatics * Asia ...

Asian Indoor Games The Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (abbreviated as AIMAG) is a pancontinental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. It is organised by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and consists of Indoor and martial ...

East Asian Games The East Asian Games was a multi-sport event organized by the East Asian Games Association (EAGA) and held every four years from 1993 to 2013. Among those who competed included athletes from East Asian countries and territories of the Olympic ...

Southeast Asian Games The Southeast Asian Games, also known as the SEA Games, is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with sup ...

Asian Youth Games The Asian Youth Games, also known as AYG, is a multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games have been organized by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA). The Games are described as the second largest multi-sp ...

* Maccabiah Games

National

* China National Games * German Championships * Finnish Championships * Lithuanian Championships * USA Outdoor Championships

World records

Men

Women

Season's bests

Awards

Men

Women

Doping

Incidents of athletes testing positive for banned substances were low-key compared to previous years. The IAAF conducted their largest ever anti-doping program at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics, and Jamel Chatbi and Nigerian hurdler Amaka Ogoegbunam were the only athletes who tested positive. Five Jamaican sprint athletes, including

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

Sheri-Ann Brooks Sheri-Ann Brooks (born 11 February 1983 in Kingston) is a Jamaican sprinter, who specializes in the 100 metres. She is the first child of Mr. Error Brooks and Mrs. Donna Brooks. Brooks represented the Jamaica at the 2008 Summer O ...

, tested positive for

Methylhexanamine 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 ...

prior to the world championships. Four of the athletes received three-month bans, while Brooks was cleared on a technicality. A Brazilian coach, Jayme Netto, admitted that he had administered the banned drug recombinant EPO on five of his athletes without their knowledge. South American champion

Lucimar Teodoro Lucimar Teodoro (born 1 May 1981) is a Brazilian track and field athlete who specialises in the 400 metres sprint and the 400 metres hurdles. Teodoro was born in Guararapes, São Paulo and began competing in senior athletics in 2001. She attended ...

was another high-profile Brazilian athlete to be banned.

Retirements

* Kim Collins, 100 m gold medallist at the 2003 World Championships. (returned to competition in 2010) * Stacy Dragila, Olympic gold medallist, two-time World Champion, and former world record holder in the pole vault. * Yulia Pechonkina, 2005 World Champion in the 400 m hurdles, and current world record holder.Illness ends Pechonkina's career

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

(2009-09-28). Retrieved on 2009-09-28.

Deaths

*February 18 — Kamila Skolimowska (26), Polish hammer thrower (born 1982) *April 6 —

Svetlana Ulmasova Svetlana Ulmasova (russian: Светпана Упьмасова; born 4 February 1953, died 6 April 2009) was a long-distance runner from the Soviet Union and a former world record A world record is usually the best global and most important pe ...

(56), Uzbekistani long-distance runner (born 1953) *May 8 — Fons Brydenbach (54), Belgian sprinter (born 1954) *June 27 — Nanae Nagata (53), Japanese long-distance runner (born 1956) *October 2 — Jørgen Jensen (65), Danish long-distance runner (born 1944) *October 25 — Ingeborg Mello (90), Argentine discus thrower and shot putter (born 1919)

References

{{Years in Athletics Athletics (track and field) by year