history

In the late 1970s, when the Olympic Games were threatened with boycotts, there was a growing demand for a "true world championships," and the World Championships was born.

In the men's 100m, Ben Johnson became the first athlete in history to break 9.8 seconds, but this was later erased due to doping, while S. Kostadinova's world record of 2m09 in the women's high jump remained for 37 years until it was broken by Y. Makhchik in 2024.

Sachiko Yamashita won Japan's first silver medal in the women's marathon, and Hiromi Taniguchi achieved a gold medal in the men's marathon on the final day. C. Lewis won the men's 100m with a new world record, and his rival M. Powell surpassed him in the long jump with a world record.

Junko Asari and Yue Abe won gold and bronze medals, respectively, in the women's and men's marathons, and the U.S., with M. Johnson as anchor, won the men's 4x400m relay in a world record time of 2:54.29, which still stands today.

On the fifth day, MJ won the 400m in a new meet record, and on the seventh day, he won the 200m, also in a new meet record, and on the final day, he won the 4x400m relay to complete an anomalous triple crown of 200, 400, and mile, which is still unprecedented.

Hiromi Suzuki won the gold medal in the women's marathon, and was the first Japanese woman to win medals in four consecutive events; M. Green, still unknown at the time, won the men's 100 m. Since then, he has won three consecutive World Championships and established a new world record; and S. Bubka, the "bird man," won an unprecedented sixth consecutive championship with his new record, leaving a legend.

In the men's 400m, MJ set an astonishing new world record of 43.18 seconds. 31 years old at the time, he was considered "the best athlete of the 1990s," but some said he had reached his limit.

In the men's hammer throw, "Ironman" Koji Murofushi won his first silver medal in a field event; in the men's 400m hurdles, the 170cm-tall "little hurdler" Dai Tamesue won his first bronze in a sprint event; in the women's marathon, Reiko Tosa took silver with her tenacious run, surprising the world; and in the women's track and field events, the "Ironman" Koji Murofushi took silver in his first field event, the women's marathon, with his tenacious run.

Mizuki Noguchi and Mako Chiba won silver and bronze in the women's marathon, and Koji Murofushi won bronze in the men's hammer throw.

Tamesue lost his father Toshiyuki just before the 2003 Paris Games, and two years later his wish for a medal for his father came true: in the men's 400m hurdles final in torrential rain, he won the bronze medal by eight-hundredths of a second with a dogged diving effort.