The 6th World Championships in Athletics (), under the auspices of the International Association of Athletic Federations, were held at the Olympic Stadium, Athens, Greece between 1 and 10 August 1997. 1,882 athletes from 198 participant nations participated in this event.

It was the first edition to award wild cards to defending champions even if they did not qualify for their national team. This allowed four athletes from the same country to compete in an individual event in some cases.

Men's results

Track

1993 | 1995 | 1997 | 1999 | 2001

{|

|-

|

|||9.86

|||9.91

|||9.94

|-

|

|||20.04

|||20.23

|||20.26

|-

|

|||44.12

|||44.37

|||44.39

|-

|

|||1:43.38

|||1:44.00

|||1:44.25

|-

|

|||3:35.83

|||3:36.63

|||3:37.26

|-

|

|||13:07.38

|||13:09.34

|||13:11.09

|-

|

|||27:24.58

|||27:25.62

|||27:28.67

|-

|

|||2:13:16

|||2:13:21

|||2:14:16

|-

|

|||12.93

|||13.05

|||13.18

|-

|

|||47.70

|||47.86

|||47.88

|-

|

|||8:05.84

|||8:06.04

|||8:06.04

|-

|

|||1:21:43

|||1:21:53

|||1:22:01

|-

|

|||3:44:46

|||3:44:59

|||3:48:30

|-valign=top

|

|<br />Robert Esmie<br />Glenroy Gilbert<br />Bruny Surin<br />Donovan Bailey<br />Carlton Chambers*||37.86

|<br />Osmond Ezinwa<br />Olapade Adeniken<br />Francis Obikwelu<br />Davidson Ezinwa||38.07

|<br />Darren Braithwaite<br />Darren Campbell<br />Douglas Walker<br />Julian Golding<br />Marlon Devonish*<br />Dwain Chambers*||38.14

|-valign=top

|

|<br />Iwan Thomas<br />Roger Black<br />Jamie Baulch<br />Mark Richardson<br />Mark Hylton*||2:56.65

||<br />Michael McDonald<br />Greg Haughton<br />Danny McFarlane<br />Davian Clarke<br />Linval Laird*||2:56.75

|<br />Tomasz Czubak<br />Piotr Rysiukiewicz<br />Piotr Haczek<br />Robert Maćkowiak||3:00.26

|- bgcolor= e8e8e8

|colspan=7|

|}

Note: * Indicates athletes who ran in preliminary rounds.

  • The United States (Jerome Young, Antonio Pettigrew, Chris Jones, and Tyree Washington) originally won the 4 × 400 m relay in 2:56.47, but were disqualified in 2009, after Antonio Pettigrew admitted to using HGH and EPO between 1997 and 2003.

Field

1993 | 1995 | 1997 | 1999 | 2001

{|

|-

|

|||2.37 m

|||2.35 m

|||2.35 m

|-

|

|||6.01 m /

|||5.96 m

|||5.91 m

|-

|

|||8.42 m

|||8.38 m

|||8.18 m

|-

|

|||17.85 m /

|||17.69 m

|||17.64 m

|-

|

|||21.44 m

|||21.24 m

|||20.33 m

|-

|

|||68.54 m

|||66.70 m

|||66.14 m

|-

|

|||81.78 m

|||81.46 m

|||80.76 m

|-

|

|||88.40 m

|||86.80 m

|||86.64 m

|-

|

|||8837 pts //

|||8730 pts

|||8652 pts

|- bgcolor= e8e8e8

|colspan=7|

|}

  • Aleksandr Bagach of Ukraine originally won the shot put with 21.47 m, but was disqualified after he tested positive for steroids.

Women's results

Track

1993 | 1995 | 1997 | 1999 | 2001

{|

|-

|

|||10.83

|||10.85

|||11.03

|-

|

|||22.32

|||22.39

|||22.40

|-

|

|||49.77

|||49.79

|||49.90

|-

|

|||1:57.14

|||1:57.56

|||1:57.59

|-

|

|||4:04.24

|||4:04.63

|||4:04.70

|-

|

|||14:57.68

|||14:58.29

|||14:58.85

|-

|

|||31:32.92

|||31:39.15

|||31:41.93

|-

|

|||2:29:48

|||2:31:12

|||2:31:55

|-

|

|||42:55.49

|||43:30.20

|||43:49.24

|-

|

|||12.50

|||12.58

|||12.61

|-

|

|||52.97

|||53.09

|||53.52

|-valign=top

|

|<br />Chryste Gaines<br />Marion Jones<br />Inger Miller<br />Gail Devers ||41.47 /

|<br />Beverly McDonald<br />Merlene Frazer<br />Juliet Cuthbert<br />Beverly Grant||42.10

|<br />Patricia Girard-Léno<br />Christine Arron<br />Delphine Combe<br />Sylviane Félix<br />Frédérique Bangué*||42.21

|-valign=top

|

|<br />Anke Feller<br />Uta Rohländer<br />Anja Rücker<br />Grit Breuer ||3:20.92

|<br />Maicel Malone-Wallace<br />Kim Graham<br />Kim Batten<br />Jearl Miles Clark<br />Michelle Collins*<br />Natasha Kaiser-Brown* ||3:21.03

|<br />Inez Turner<br />Lorraine Graham<br />Deon Hemmings<br />Sandie Richards<br />Nadia Graham-Hutchinson* ||3:21.30

|- bgcolor= e8e8e8

|colspan=7|

|}

Note: * Indicates athletes who ran in preliminary rounds.

Field

1993 | 1995 | 1997 | 1999 | 2001

{|

|-

|

||||1.99 m

|<hr> ||1.96 m

!colspan=2|Not awarded

|-

|

|||7.05 m /

|||6.94 m

|||6.91 m

|-

|

|||15.20 m /

|||15.16 m

|||14.67 m

|-

|

|||20.71 m

|||20.66 m

|||19.22 m

|-

|

|||66.82 m

|||65.90 m

|||65.14 m

|-

|

|||68.78 m

|||68.64 m

|||67.12 m

|-

|

|||6739 pts

|||6654 pts

|||6566 pts

|- bgcolor= e8e8e8

|colspan=7|

|}

Medal table

thumb|Beer glass with championships branding

References

  • IAAF 1997