The 11th World Championships in Athletics, () under the auspices of the

International Association of Athletics Federations 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), were held at

Nagai Stadium , known as the Yanmar Stadium Nagai ( ja, ヤンマースタジアム長居) for sponsorship reasons, is a stadium in Osaka, Japan. It is the home ground of J. League club Cerezo Osaka. The stadium has a seating capacity of 47,000. History When N ...

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007. 200 of the IAAF's 212 member federations entered a total of 1,978 athletes, the greatest number of competitors at any World Championships to date.

Sarah Brightman Sarah Brightman (born 14 August 1960) is an English classical crossover soprano singer, actress and dancer. Brightman began her career as a member of the dance troupe Hot Gossip and released several disco singles as a solo performer. In 1981, ...

, the world's best-selling soprano, performed her single ''Running'' at the opening ceremony.

Bidding process

Having bid unsuccessfully to host the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

, Osaka was one of three cities to express an interest in hosting the 2007 World Championships alongside

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

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 ...

. By the IAAF's October 1, 2002 deadline, Budapest and Berlin had both withdrawn their bids, and Osaka was announced as the host city on November 15, 2002 as the sole remaining candidate. Berlin later bid successfully for the 2009 World Championships.

Major themes

Doping concerns

The IAAF stepped up its "war on doping" at the Osaka games, and for the first time, the number of drug tests exceeded 1,000. The IAAF lobbied 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 ...

to adopt stiffer penalties for first-time doping offences in WADA's code of practice. Before the Championships, former Olympic champion Ed Moses had voiced concerns about the extent of doping in the sport, and had even predicted that a medallist at the event would be found to have taken a banned substance. Despite these fears, the IAAF announced that only one of the samples taken over the course of the Championships was "suspicious" and required more examination. The governing body refused to elaborate further until more was known, but the French hurdler

Naman Keïta Naman Keïta (born 9 April 1978 in Paris, France) is a track and field athlete, who takes part in the 400 m hurdles and 4 x 400m relay, competing internationally for France. He won the 4x400m relay gold medal at the 2003 World Champion ...

admitted to having failed a drug test. The IAAF later confirmed that Keïta had tested positive for

testosterone Testosterone is the primary sex hormone and anabolic steroid in males. In humans, testosterone plays a key role in the development of Male reproductive system, male reproductive tissues such as testes and prostate, as well as promoting secondar ...

in an out-of-competition test at a training camp, and labelled the World Championships 'drug-free'.

Weather conditions

The Championships were held during an unseasonably hot summer in Japan, in contrast to the cool, wet and windy conditions of

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

two years earlier. Temperatures earlier in the month had reached 40 °C (104 °F), killing several people. Temperatures had eased somewhat by the start of the event, but with early-morning temperatures around 30 °C and

humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present. Humidity depe ...

high, the IAAF maintained a colour-coded advisory scale warning of the risk of

heat stroke Heat stroke or heatstroke, also known as sun stroke, is a severe heat illness that results in a body temperature greater than , along with red skin, headache, dizziness, and confusion. Sweating is generally present in exertional heatstroke, ...

. Casualties of the heat were not as high as initially feared, but dozens of athletes failed to finish the walks 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 ...

s and a few did require medical treatment. Some athletes in shorter events blamed poor performances on the difficult conditions.

Attendance

Concerns had been raised in the week running up to the Championships about the low level of ticket sales - only 46% of seats had been filled by August 20. The Nagai Stadium was less than half full for the opening ceremony, and there were around 15,000 empty seats on the night of the men's 100 m final. A number of reasons were cited for the poor attendance, including high ticket prices (especially since the streets were lined during the marathons), the hot weather and the disappointing performance of the Japanese team. IAAF vice-president

Sebastian Coe Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe, (born 29 September 1956), often referred to as Seb Coe, is a British politician and former track and field athlete. As a middle-distance runner, Coe won four Olympic medals, including 1500 metres gold medal ...

also suggested that the length of the Championships may have to be shortened in future to sustain the public's interest.

Notable performances

Despite no world records being broken, the Championships saw a number of significant personal and team achievements. The United States dominated the overall standings ahead of Kenya and Russia, equalling its best ever medal haul (first achieved in

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

) with 26, fourteen of them golds. The U.S. also set another Championship first by triumphing in all four relay races. These accomplishments were highlighted by three individual performances: Tyson Gay and

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 ...

collected three gold medals each (Gay 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 ...

and the 4 × 100 m relay, Felix in the 200 m and the two women's relays), a feat previously achieved only by

Marita Koch Marita Koch (later Meier-Koch; born 18 February 1957) is a German former sprint track and field athlete. During her career she collected 16 world records in outdoor sprints as well as 14 world records in indoor events. Her record of 47.60 in th ...

, Carl Lewis and Maurice Greene; while Kenyan-born

Bernard Lagat Bernard Kipchirchir Lagat (born December 12, 1974) is a Kenyan-American middle and long-distance runner. Lagat was born in Kapsabet, Kenya. Prior to his change of domicile to the US, Lagat had an extensive competitive career representing his ...

became the first man to win both the

1500 Year 1500 (Roman numerals, MD) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. The year 1500 was not a leap year in the Proleptic Gregorian calendar. The year was seen as being especially important by many Christians in Europe, ...

and

5000 m The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a stand ...

titles at the same World Championships. Perhaps the most unlikely American medal came from 110 m hurdler David Payne, who as first alternate had not travelled to Osaka with the rest of the team. After Dominique Arnold withdrew from the event with an injury, Payne only arrived in Japan the night before the heats, and proceeded to move through the rounds before taking bronze with a personal best. Amongst prominent European successes were Swede Carolina Klüft's third consecutive world

heptathlon A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek επτά (hepta, meaning "seven") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "competition"). A competitor in a hept ...

title with a European record score, the victory of 39-year-old

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

Franka Dietzsch Franka Dietzsch (born 22 January 1968) is a German former discus thrower best known for winning gold medals at three World Championships in Athletics. She won the 1998 European Championships in Athletics, 1998 European Championships and 1999 Wo ...

in the discus, which made her the second-oldest world champion ever and

Nelson Évora Nelson Évora GCIH (born 20 April 1984) is an Ivory Coast-born Portuguese track and field athlete who specializes in the triple jump. Évora is a former outdoor Olympic, World, and European triple jump champion. He has also won a European ind ...

's win in the triple jump, beating world-leading Brazilian Jadel Gregorio and defending champion Walter Davis.

Christine Ohuruogu Christine Ijeoma Ohuruogu , MBE (born 17 May 1984) is a British former track and field athlete who specialised in the 400 metres, the event for which she is a former Olympic, World and Commonwealth champion. The Olympic champion in 2008, and s ...

of Great Britain and Northern Ireland claimed a surprise gold in the women's

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...

, less than a month after the expiry of a year-long ban imposed for missing three drug tests, while

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

Kyriakos Ioannou Kyriakos Ioannou ( el, Κυριάκος Ιωάννου, born 26 July 1984) is a Cypriot high jumper. He has twice won medals at the World Championships in Athletics (2007 and 2009) and was the bronze medallist at the IAAF World Indoor Champions ...

claimed the first ever medal for Cyprus in a World Championships. Russia's

Tatyana Lebedeva Tatyana Romanovna Lebedeva (russian: Татьяна Романовна Лебедева, born 21 July 1976) is a Russian track and field athlete who competes in both the long jump and triple jump events. She is one of the most successful athle ...

just missed out on an unprecedented long jump/ triple jump double, but still ended up with a gold and a silver medal.

African countries This is a list of sovereign states and dependent territories in Africa. It includes both fully recognised states, states with limited or zero recognition, and dependent territories of both African and non-African states. It lists 56 sovereign state ...

were typically well represented in the middle and

long-distance Long distance or Long-distance may refer to: *Long-distance calling *Long-distance operator *Long-distance relationship * Long-distance train *Long-distance anchor pylon, see dead-end tower Footpaths *Long-distance trail *European long-dista ...

events, with Kenyans claiming both the men's and women's marathon titles and Ethiopia winning three golds. Chinese athlete

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 ...

, the only sprinter of non-African origin to clock sub-13 second 110m hurdles, took the gold medal at this event with a time of 12.95 seconds. World Record Holders for the 20 km Walk,

Jefferson Pérez Jefferson Leonardo Pérez Quezada (born 1 July 1974) is an Ecuadorian retired race walker. He specialized in the 20 km event, in which he won the first two medals his country achieved in the Olympic Games. He won the gold medal at the 199 ...

, and 50 km Walk,

Nathan Deakes Nathan Deakes (born 17 August 1977 in Geelong) is an Australian former race walker. Deakes trained with the Australian Institute of Sport. By performances, Deakes is Australia's best and most successful ever race walker, winning several in ...

, both won their respective events, confirming their dominance of the event. In Perez's case, this was his third World Championship Gold Medal in a row. Host nation Japan gained its only medal on the final day with a bronze for

Reiko Tosa is a Japanese long-distance runner who specializes in the marathon race. She was born in Matsuyama, Ehime. Achievements *All results regarding marathon, unless stated otherwise Personal bests *5000 metres - 15:37.08 min (2000) *10,000 metres ...

in the women's marathon. Image:Osaka07 Opening Flag Stars.jpg, From opening ceremony Image:Osaka07 D8M M110MH Decathlon Scene.jpg, 110 m hurdles heat in the men's decathlon Image:Osaka07 D8M Yuki Yamazaki Helpers.jpg, Japanese athlete is carried away after the 50 km walk. Image:Osaka07 D9A W4-400M USA celebrating.jpg, American women's 4 × 400 m relay team celebrate.

Men's results

Track

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, 2007 ,

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2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Note: * Indicates athletes who ran in preliminary rounds.

Field

, 2007 ,

Women's results

Track

, 2007 ,

Note: * Indicates athletes who ran in preliminary rounds.

Field

, 2007 ,

Medal table

Broadcasting

The broadcasters of the 2007 IAAF World Championships were as follows:

Japan

*Broadcaster - TBS (Host broadcaster) and MBS (Cooperator) *Caster -

Yūji Oda is a Japanese actor and singer. He is one of Japan's 11 most popular male entertainers, according to an NHK survey taken in 2004.Mark D. West ''Secrets, Sex, and Spectacle: The Rules of Scandal in Japan'' 2008 - Page 179 "Fukunaga, the boy band ...

and

Miho Nakai is a feminine Japanese given name and a masculine Croatian name. It can have many different meanings in Japanese depending on the kanji used. Possible Japanese writings Miho can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *実穂, ...

*Fieldcaster - Beni Arashiro *Official song -

All my treasures All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All al ...

(Yūji Oda)

Worldwide

This list is non-exhaustive. * Arab World -

Al Jazeera Sports beIN Sports MENA ( ar, بي إن سبورتس العربية) is a subsidiary of beIN Sports. It is based in Doha, Qatar, serving the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. They are owned by beIN Media Group, a former subsidiary of Al Jaze ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

- SBS TV * Belgium - Sporza * Bosnia and Herzegovina - BHTV1 * Brazil - SporTV * Bulgaria -

BNT The Bulgarian National Television (Bulgarian: Българска национална телевизия, ''Balgarska natsionalna televizia'') or BNT (БНТ), stylized as ·Б·Н·Т· since 2018, is a public television broadcaster of Bulgaria. ...

* Canada - CBC *

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

- CMC *

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...

* Croatia -

HRT2 HRT 2 (HTV 2, ''"Drugi program"'') is a Croatian free-to-air television channel, operated by Hrvatska Radiotelevizija (HRT). Its line-up focuses mainly on entertainment, although it also broadcasts news and documentaries. A new broadcast of HRT2, ...

* Czech Republic - ČT2 * Denmark -

DR2 DR2 (DR To) is the second television channel operated by the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR) in Denmark. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more "highbrow" programmes than the more mainstream and popular DR1. Like ...

* Estonia - ETV * Europe - Eurosport * Finland - YLE * France - France Televisions *

- ARD and

ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...

* Greece - ET1 * Israel - Channel 1 * Italy - RAI *

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

- LTV7 *

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

LTV LTV may refer to: Television * Lagos Television, a TV channel in Nigeria. * Latvijas Televīzija, Latvian Television * LRT televizija, formerly LTV, Lithuanian National Television * LTV Ethiopia, a private satellite TV channel in Ethiopia * Lumi ...

* New Zealand - Sky Television * Norway - NRK * Philippines - NBN * Poland - TVP * Portugal - RTP2 * Russia - Sport-RTR * Serbia - RTS2 * Slovakia -

Dvojka Dvojka (formerly STV2) is a Slovak television channel owned and operated by RTVS Radio and Television of Slovakia ( sk, Rozhlas a televízia Slovenska ) or RTVS is a nationwide public broadcasting, state-funded organisation in Slovakia. It i ...

* South Korea - KBS * Spain -

TVE2 La 2 (, ''The Two'') is a Spanish free-to-air television channel owned and operated by Televisión Española (TVE), the television division of state-owned public broadcaster RTVE, Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE). It is the corporation's secon ...

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 ...

- SVT 1, 2, HD *

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

- SRG-SSR * Turkey -

TRT The Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT; Turkish : ) is the national public broadcaster of Turkey, founded in 1964. TRT was for many years the only television and radio provider in Turkey. Before the introduction of commercial radio i ...

* United Kingdom - BBC * United States - NBC,

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and WCSN * Venezuela -

Meridiano TV Meridiano (in English, ''meridian'') may refer to * Meridiano, São Paulo * ''Diario Meridiano'', a Venezuelan sports newspaper * Meridiano Televisión Meridiano Televisión is a 24-hour sports network in Venezuela. History Meridiano Televisió ...

References

External links

Results from IAAF.org11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics Osaka Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:2007 World Championships In Athletics World Athletics Championships World Championships in Athletics A World Championships International athletics competitions hosted by Japan August 2007 sports events in Asia September 2007 sports events in Asia 21st century in Osaka