A Brief History Of The Games

30 July 1997

Back when the world was young, athletics chief Primo Nebiolo was asked about the weather prospects for the inaugural 1983 Helsinki world championships.

"I have spoken with the Pope," Nebiolo replied in his familiar gravelly tones. "The weather will be fine."

Now, 17 years on, although the outside world has changed out of recognition, Nebiolo is still president of the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) and Pope John Paul remains in the Vatican.

And with the sixth edition of the championships starting in Athens on August 1, Nebiolo has this time invoked temporal rather than spiritual means to help ensure success.

With hot weather assured at the height of the Mediterranean summer, Nebiolo has moved this time to guarantee that the sport's hottest attraction will compete in the land which launched the ancient and modern Olympic Games.

Michael Johnson, who succeeded in getting the Olympic program changed in Atlanta last year to allow him to complete an unprecedented 200 and 400 meters double, missed the U.S. trials this year through injury.

In the past, this would have meant automatic exclusion from the championships in line with the strict American policy to select the top three at the national championships.

This year Nebiolo persuaded the IAAF Council that defending champions should be allowed to take part, clearing the way for Johnson to compete.

The move came as no surprise to Johnson or his agent Brad Hunt who were already preparing for Athens; it did though incur the wrath of IAAF vice-president Arne Ljungqvist who condemned it as a decision taken "though a flippant telephone vote with a few hours' warning."

Outside the sport it is doubtful anyone will much care how the IAAF reach their decisions and Nebiolo's grasp of the realities of the sporting marketplace remains firm.

The 1983 championships were a master stroke, coming at a time when the two previous Olympics had been disrupted by boycotts.

With the cold war at its height, the IAAF staged a championships for the most part in perfect weather, whether or not with the aid of papal intervention, featuring the cream of athletes from both east and west.

Carl Lewis announced his presence on the world stage with gold medals in the 100 meters and long jump followed by a breathtaking anchor leg in the 4x100 meters final.

Sergei Bubka, a teenager from the Ukraine, won the first of five world titles in the pole vault, Mary Decker, now Mary Slaney, ran gloriously to beat the Russians in the 1,500 and 3,000 meters and Steve Cram emerged from the pack for an imperious victory in the men's 1,500.

All seemed rosy for Nebiolo and his sport, although even before the championships began Ed Moses, the peerless 400 meters hurdler, gave a warning of things to come when he spoke of the growing menace of drugs in the sport.

Four years later it was Rome and a controversial championships in Nebiolo's home country.

Ben Johnson, the hulking Canadian, beat Lewis with a world record 9.83 seconds in the 100 meters final and while the stadium was still simmering high-jumper Stefka Kostadinova arched over the bar at 2.09 meters, still the world record a decade later.

Lewis, distinctly unamused at losing his 100 title, hinted that all was not as it seemed without making specific allegations.

After the championships, Johnson's run was temporarily overshadowed when it was discovered that a local official had deliberately falsified a long jump mark giving Italian Giovanni Evangelisti the bronze medal. The mark was later annulled.

By the time of the 1991 Tokyo championships, Johnson was the sport's pariah after testing positive for steroids after finishing ahead of Lewis, in the 1988 Seoul Olympic 100 final.

On a lightning track in Tokyo, Lewis gave his final great sprint performance with a world record 9.86 seconds in the 100 final. The IAAF had expunged all Johnson' marks from the record books.

Mike Powell beat Bob Beamonn's long jump mark of 8.95, set at the 1968 Mexico Olympics, during an electric evening, Johnson took the 200 meters with ease and Kenyans won every men's middle and long distance track event with the exception of the 1,500 meters.

In another innovation which divided both officials and athletes, the IAAF voted to hold the championships once every two years and with the cold war now a memory and the Soviet Union now dissolved Stuttgart staged a memorable 1993 championships.

The German city provided the stage for Merlene Ottey's first global title, a win by photo-finish in the women's 200 meters.

And Britain enjoyed a golden week in which Linford Christie added the world 100 title to his Olympic gold while Colin Jackson and Sally Gunnell set world records in the 110 and 400 meters hurdles respectively.

Gothenburg in 1995 failed somehow to capture the excitement of Stuttgart, with most interest focused on Johnson's attempt at the 200-400 double.

The Texan succeeded, opening the way for a similar double in Atlanta but an equally enduring memory was that of Moses Kiptanui slowing up with the world 3,000 meters steeplechase record at his mercy.

Kiptanui was honest enough to admit he was saving his efforts for the Zurich meeting and an appropriate financial reward, a confession which helped prompt the IAAF to offer prize money plus world record bonuses for Athens.

For the IAAF, the equation is simple.

To keep athletics at the forefront in a fiercely competitive market, Nebiolo must guarantee spectators, sponsors and television coverage. To do that he must have the best athletes.

If the rules must be changed, so be it.

by Luke Yeatman (luke.yeatman@deakin.edu.au)

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