The 3rd IAAF World Championships Tokyo 1991

Breaking from the norm, the 3rd IAAF World Championships left the European continent and traveled to Tokyo, Japan.





Poster of the IAAF World Championships Tokyo 1991



Emblem of the 3rd IAAF World Championships



Mascot of the 3rd IAAF World Championships



The hosting of the Championships in Asia was very significant to the athletics community for many reasons. This event gave international athletics an opportunity to spread to a land where  athletics was not well known creating a new and very passionate fan base. This World Championships was also one of the driving factions that helped to  develop Asian athletics to the level that it is today.

Though the previous two Championships were very successful, the IAAF World Championships was still in its early stages and it needed to be further developed. The IAAF worried that the World Championships might become an event that could be only enjoyed among countries in the European, American, and African continents. It was crucial for the IAAF to attract more Asian interests in the Event.

In deciding the host city of the 3rd IAAF World Championships the IAAF began to do extensive research on the area. The IAAF found that during the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, the host country took home 29 Medals. Tokyo also boasted a 48,000 seat stadium had a history of hosting international competitions, including the 1958 Asian Games as well as the Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964.

It was after all of these considerations that Tokyo was dubbed the Host City for the 3rd IAAF World Championships Tokyo 1991. The nations event history and it's strong economy proved to be a safe bet.

Tokyo National Stadium

The 3^rd IAAF World Championships saw 1,517 athletics from 167 Member Federations and 580,000 spectators from all over the world participated in the event, while also it was globally broadcasting to over 3.3 billion viewers. This was a one billion viewers increase over the 2^nd World Championships in Rome. The increased number clearly showed the importance of global TV broadcasting of athletics events.

The results of Tokyo World Championships suprised many of the fans.

The undefeatable Carl Lewis again took the gold medal in the 100m, but he did this while also setting a new World Record of 9.86 seconds. This race was incredibly close with Leroy Burrell was only 0.02 second behind Lewis and Dennis Mitchell taking third at just 0.05 behind the champion. The Silver and Bronze medalists were five to six years younger than Carl Lewis with a lot of potential for improvement. The improvements in the athletes' performance was astounding.

Carl Lewis

Mike Powell

Carl Lewis also took the Silver Medal in the long jump, being out jumped by fellow American, Mike Powell who also broke a World Record that day in the Long Jump of 8.95m.

Fans witnessed the birth of new rising stars but also saw the hero who kept his throne. Michael Johnson defeated all the star athletes in Men’s 200 meter while Sergey Bubka won his third gold medal in the Men’s Pole Vault.

The Soviet Union was the country took the most gold medals during the 3^rd IAAF World Championships, but it was the last international event that the Federation participated under that name.