The 9th

European Athletics Championships The European Athletics Championships is a biennial (from 2010) athletics event organised by the European Athletics Association and is recognised as the elite continental outdoor athletics championships for Europe. Editions First held, for men ...

were held from 16–21 September 1969 in the

Karaiskaki Stadium The Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium ( el, Στάδιο Γεώργιος Καραϊσκάκης), commonly referred to as the Karaiskakis Stadium ( el, Στάδιο Καραϊσκάκη, ), is a football stadium in Piraeus, Attica, Greece, and the h ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, the capital of

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. New at these championships were the women's

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...

and the women's

4×400 metres relay Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

event. Moreover, women's

80 metres hurdles 80 metres hurdles is a distance in hurdling ran by women until 1972 in international competitions. Since the 1972 Summer Olympics, the event has been permanently replaced by the 100 metre hurdles. Masters athletics The distance, with different s ...

was replaced by women's

100 metres hurdles The 100 metres hurdles, or 100-meter hurdles, is a track and field event run mainly by women (the male counterpart is the 110 metres hurdles). For the race, ten Hurdling, hurdles of a height of are placed along a straight course of . The first h ...

. Contemporaneous reports on the event were given in the

Glasgow Herald ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

. Former East German runner

Jürgen May Jürgen May (born 18 June 1942 in Nordhausen, Thuringia, Nordhausen, Thuringia) is a former middle-distance runner, who was a successful athlete and Olympic Games competitor, who escaped from the German Democratic Republic, GDR to continue his ca ...

, who had defected, was not allowed to compete for his new country, West Germany, due to

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 ...

rules requiring him to live there for at least three years; he had competed for East Germany in the 1966 championships. West German officials promptly withdrew their athletes from all individual events in protest, but decided to compete in the relay races as a symbolic gesture to show their respect for the Greek organisers. The Dutch decathlete Edward de Noorlander was disqualified for the use of

amphetamine Amphetamine (contracted from alpha- methylphenethylamine) is a strong central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), narcolepsy, and obesity. It is also commonly used ...

, the first disqualification for doping in athletics.

Medal summary

Complete results were published.

Men

* Max Klauß from East Germany jumped 8.00 in the final, which was a new championship record. * Probably wind assisted. As of statistic handbooks

Viktor Saneyev Viktor Danilovich Saneyev (russian: Виктор Данилович Санеев; ka, ვიქტორ სანეევი, Vikt’or Saneevi; 3 October 1945 – 3 January 2022) was a Georgian triple jumper who competed internationally for ...

's mark wasn't ratified as a new championship record.

Women

Medal table

Participation

According to an unofficial count, 675 athletes from 30 countries participated in the event, one athlete more than the official number of 674 as published. * (9) * (18) * (19) * (27) * (8) * (60) * (24) * (57) * (1) * (24) * (32) * (3) * (4) * (36) * (1) * (4) * (1) * (9) * (18) * (51) * (4) * (17) * (79) * (6) * (29) * (19) * (10) * (71) * (16) * (18)

References

;Results * *

External links

European Athletics official website

Athletix
{{European athletics champs European Athletics Championships

International athletics competitions hosted by Greece 1969 in Greek sport Sports competitions in Athens 1969 in European sport September 1969 sports events in Europe 1960s in Athens Athletics in Athens