The 11th World Championships in Athletics, (Japanese: 2007年世界陸上競技選手権大会) under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, 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.[1][2]Sarah Brightman, 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,[3] Osaka was one of three cities to express an interest in hosting the 2007 World Championships alongside Budapest, Hungary and Berlin, Germany. By the IAAF's October 1, 2002 deadline, Budapest and Berlin had both withdrawn their bids, and Osaka was announced as the host city on November 15, 2002, as the sole remaining candidate.[4] Berlin later bid successfully for the 2009 World Championships.[5]
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.[6] The IAAF lobbied the World Anti-Doping Agency to adopt stiffer penalties for first-time doping offences in WADA's code of practice.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9] The governing body refused to elaborate further until more was known, but the French hurdler Naman Keïta admitted to having failed a drug test.[10] The IAAF later confirmed that Keïta had tested positive for testosterone in an out-of-competition test at a training camp, and labelled the World Championships 'drug-free'.[11]
Weather conditions
The Championships were held during an unseasonably hot summer in Japan, in contrast to the cool, wet and windy conditions of Helsinki two years earlier.[12] Temperatures earlier in the month had reached 40 °C (104 °F), killing several people.[13] Temperatures had eased somewhat by the start of the event,[14] but with early-morning temperatures around 30 °C and humidity high, the IAAF maintained a colour-coded advisory scale warning of the risk of heat stroke.[15] Casualties of the heat were not as high as initially feared, but dozens of athletes failed to finish the walks and marathons and a few did require medical treatment.[14] Some athletes in shorter events blamed poor performances on the difficult conditions.[16]
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.[17] 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.[18] A number of reasons were cited for the poor attendance, including high ticket prices (especially since the streets were lined during the marathons),[18][19] the hot weather[19] and the disappointing performance of the Japanese team.[19] IAAF vice-president Sebastian Coe also suggested that the length of the Championships may have to be shortened in future to sustain the public's interest.[20]
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) with 26, fourteen of them golds. The U.S. also set another Championship first by triumphing in all four relay races.[21] These accomplishments were highlighted by three individual performances: Tyson Gay and Allyson Felix collected three gold medals each (Gay in the 100 and 200 metres 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, Carl Lewis and Maurice Greene;[21] while Kenyan-born Bernard Lagat became the first man to win both the 1500 and 5000 m titles at the same World Championships.[22] Perhaps the most unlikely American medal came from 110 m hurdlerDavid 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.[22]
African countries were typically well represented in the middle and long-distance events, with Kenyans claiming both the men's and women's marathon titles and Ethiopia winning three golds.
Chinese athlete Liu Xiang, 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, and 50 km Walk, Nathan Deakes, 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 in the women's marathon.
From opening ceremony
110 m hurdles heat in the men's decathlon
Japanese athlete is carried away after the 50 km walk.
WR world record | AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season)
Note: * Indicates athletes who ran in preliminary rounds.
WR world record | AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season)
WR world record | AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season)
Note: * Indicates athletes who ran in preliminary rounds.
After an outstanding season, Vlašić was the big favourite coming into the final, and she did not disappoint. Di Martino and Chicherova gave the Croatian a run for her money though, as they both cleared 2.03 and shared second place. With Russians Slesarenko and Savchenko both clearing 2.00, this was the first ever women's high jump competition with 5 jumpers over 2.00 and also the first ever with 3 jumpers clearing 2.03.
Isinbayeva was the only one to vault over 4.80 m. Then she attacked the world record trying to jump 5.02 m, but failed. Three athletes beat the height of 4.75 m, but only Baďurová succeeded with her first attempt, taking silver. Feofanova took bronze, beating Monika Pyrek thanks to her better first attempt on 4.70 m.
Lebedeva's dominance of the event and her hopes of an unprecedented long jump/triple jump double were ended by Savigne, whose opening jump of 15.28 m proved decisive.
Astapchuk lead throughout the rounds but Vili responded in the final round with a 20.54 throw. Astapchuk's last round effort of 20.48 was not enough to catch the New Zealander, who set a Commonwealth record.
Dietzsch's opening effort of 66.61 m proved enough to secure the gold medal for the third time in her career. At 39, she became the second-oldest athletics world champion in history.[23]Darya Pishchalnikova initially finished second, but her silver medal was revoked in 2008 for manipulating drug samples.
The final was a battle between two pairs of German and Czech throwers which ended with a loss for this year unbeaten Obergföll. Špotáková improved the Czech national record (previously 66.21 held by herself since 2006) twice. She took an early lead for 66.40 m in her first attempt and secured the gold medal with her third throw (67.07) before Obergföll who reached 66.46 in the sixth attempt. Both Špotáková and Obergföl had a solid row of attempts over 60 m. Nerius (64.42) managed to get the bronze when she overcame Nikola Brejchová (63.73) in the fourth round.
In a tight contest, Moreno's final round throw fell just 2 cm short of Heidler's 74.76, set in round two. Ivana Brkljačić failed to follow up on her qualification-leading throw of 74.69 and had to settle with 11th place.
Klüft set a European Record and became the second highest scorer ever in taking her third consecutive World Championship title and 19th consecutive heptathlon win. Sotherton had to fight with Jessica Ennis for a medal in the 800 m, after a poor javelin. Ennis won the 800 metres by only 0.19 seconds which was not enough, giving her the fourth place after Sotherton.
WR world record | AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season)
