1980 World Championships in Athletics


The 1980 World Championships in Athletics was the second global, international athletics competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations. Hosted from 14 to 16 August 1980 at the De Baandert in Sittard, Netherlands, it featured two events: the women's 400 metres hurdles and the women's 3000 metres run. West Germany's Birgit Friedmann took the first women's world title in the 3000 m, while her East German counterpart Bärbel Broschat became the first women's 400 m hurdles world champion.

Summary

Historically, the IAAF and the International Olympic Committee agreed that the Athletics at the Summer Olympics served as the world championship event for the sport. The IAAF began to expand its programme of approved events for women and this conflicted with the Olympic athletics programme. The 400 m hurdles was recently introduced event for female athletes while the 3000 m marked the increasing popularity of long-distance running events among women. Neither event was contested at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. The boycott of those Olympics and the presence of the Liberty Bell Classic gave the IAAF additional incentive to hold its own competition; although the Soviet Union withdrew, the events in Sittard attracted entries from countries on both sides of the Western and Eastern divide.
A total of 42 women from 21 nations entered the competition – there were 18 participants in the 3000 m and 24 athletes in the 400 m hurdles. The hurdles format had four heats of six athletes, two semi-finals of eight athletes, then an "A" and a "B" final. The 3000 m run had two stages: two heats of nine athletes each, followed by a final of twelve athletes.
The tournament followed the 1976 World Championships in Athletics, which featured just one event – the men's 50 kilometres walk – and was organised by the IAAF in reaction to the IOC dropping that event for the 1976 Summer Olympics. The 1980 World Championships preceded the launch of the IAAF's independent global event, with the inaugural 1983 World Championships in Athletics taking place three years later with a programme of 41 events.
One athlete, Spain's Rosa Colorado, later had her results at the championships disqualified for doping offences.

Medallists

Schedule

400 metres hurdles results

Heats

Qualifying rule: the first three athletes in each heat plus the four fastest non-qualifiers progressed to the semi-finals.
RankHeatNameNationalityTimeNotes
3Bärbel Broschat56.13Q
4Ellen Neumann56.35Q
1Esther Mahr57.51Q
1Hilde Frederiksen57.72Q
2Petra Pfaff57.92Q
4Christine Warden57.84Q
2Lynette Foreman58.07Q
3Mary Appleby58.54Q
1Montserrat Pujol58.54Q
103Rosa Colorado58.79Q
111Olga Commandeur58.87q
124Helle Sichlau58.99Q
132Susan Dalgoutté59.63Q
142Esther Kaufmann59.74q
152Simone Büngener59.98q
163Francine Gendron1:00.40q
173Debra Melrose1:00.46
181Lai Lih-Jian1:01.01
193Ruth Dubois1:01.12
202Dominique Le Disset1:01.22
214Kim Whitehead1:01.33
224Andrea Wachter1:02.28
234Célestine N'Drin1:04.91
1Kirsi UlvinenDSQ

Semi-finals

Qualifying rule: the first four athletes in each semi-final progressed to the "A" final. The remaining non-qualifiers were entered into the "B" final.
RankHeatNameNationalityTimeNotes
1Bärbel Broschat55.89Q
2Ellen Neumann55.89Q
2Esther Mahr56.16Q
1Petra Pfaff56.78Q
1Mary Appleby57.06Q
2Christine Warden57.26Q
1Hilde Frederiksen57.44Q
2Lynette Foreman57.46Q
2Rosa Colorado57.47
101Montserrat Pujol57.72
112Olga Commandeur57.93
121Helle Sichlau58.44
132Simone Büngener59.11
142Esther Kaufmann59.55
151Susan Dalgoutté59.85
161Francine Gendron1:00.14

"A" final

"B" final

3000 metres results

Heats

Qualifying rule: the first five athletes in each heat plus the two fastest non-qualifiers progressed to the final.
RankHeatNameNationalityTimeNotes
1Aurora Cunha9:04.7Q
2Birgit Friedmann9:04.7Q
2Breda Pergar9:04.9Q
2Karoline Nemetz9:04.9Q
2Joelle Debrouwer9:05.0Q
2Penny Werthner9:05.8Q
1Charlotte Teske9:06.1Q
1Ingrid Kristiansen9:06.4Q
1Eva Ernström9:06.5Q
102Wendy Smith9:07.3q
111Geri Fitch9:07.6Q
121Mary Shea9:09.4q
132Julie Shea9:11.4
142Fionnuala Morrish9:13.8
151Anat Meiri9:26.7
161Anne Audain9:26.8
171Brenda Webb9:27.6
182Olga Caccaviello10:01.2

Final

RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
Birgit Friedmann8:48.05CR, PB
Karoline Nemetz8:50.22
Ingrid Kristiansen8:58.8
4Joelle Debrouwer8:59.0
5Breda Pergar8:59.7
6Penny Werthner9:03.5
7Charlotte Teske9:04.3
8Eva Ernström9:07.7
9Aurora Cunha9:11.2
10Mary Shea9:13.7
11Geri Fitch9:37.6
Wendy SmithDNF

Participation