Athletics at the 1981 Summer Universiade

International athletics championship event

Athletics at the XI Summer Universiade

The host stadium for the events

Dates| 21–26 July 1981
Host city| Bucharest, Romania
Venue| Stadionul Naţional
Level| University
Events| 39
Records set| 14 Games records

← 1979 Mexico City

1983 Edmonton →

* * *

1981 Summer Universiade

The athletics competition at the 1981 Summer Universiade was held at the National Stadium in Bucharest, Romania, in July 1981. The programme featured 23 events for men and 16 for women. A total of fourteen Universiade records were broken during the 1981 Games.

The Soviet Union was the most successful nation medals-wise as it topped the table with eleven gold medals and 32 in total. The United States, runners-up in the competition, also took eleven gold medals, but had a lesser haul overall with 17 medal performances. East Germany and Italy had the next greatest number of gold medals, with four and three respectively, but it was the host nation Romania which was third place in the total tally, having won two golds but fifteen medals overall.

The competition featured a men's marathon race and a 20 kilometres road walk for the first time, expanding the programme outside of the usual track and field stadium. The women's 3000 metres also made its first Games appearance, having been previously held at only the 1975 World University Championships in Athletics competition. The 400 metres hurdles and 4×400 metres relay for women were other new additions to the Universiade athletics contest, while the women's pentathlon was replaced with the more extensive heptathlon event.

Saïd Aouita demonstrated his potential with a win in the 1500 metres in a Games record time. The 1980 Olympic gold medallists Dainis Kūla (javelin) and Maurizio Damilano (20 km walk) won their respective disciplines. On the women's side, reigning Olympic champions Tatyana Kolpakova and Sara Simeoni won the long jump and high jump events. Konstantin Volkov, the 1980 Olympic silver medallist, was another high-profile name and he set a record to win the men's pole vault. Romanian Doina Melinte won the women's 800 metres gold and 1500 m silver and later went on to win medals of those colours at the 1984 Summer Olympics. An unusual mistake occurred in the men's 10,000 metres competition, as the athletes ran a further lap of the circuit than intended – resulting in a total distance of 10,400 m.

## Medal summary

[edit]

### Men's events

[edit]

Event  | Gold  | Silver  | Bronze

|
|
|

100 metres
(wind: -0.5 m/s)
details |  Mel Lattany (USA) | 10.18  |  Calvin Smith (USA) | 10.26  |  Ernest Obeng (GHA) | 10.37
200 metres
(wind: +0.4 m/s)
details |  Yuriy Naumenko (URS) | 20.79  |  István Nagy (HUN) | 20.83  |  Georges Kablan Degnan (CIV) | 20.97
400 metres
details |  Cliff Wiley (USA) | 45.18  |  Walter McCoy (USA) | 45.33  |  Gerson de Souza (BRA) | 45.91
800 metres
details |  Andreas Hauck (GDR) | 1:50.12  |  Sotirios Moutsanas (GRE) | 1:50.20  |  Pavel Troshchilo (URS) | 1:50.26
1500 metres
details |  Saïd Aouita (MAR) | 3:38.43 GR |  Vinko Pokrajčić (YUG) | 3:39.83  |  Amar Brahmia (ALG) | 3:39.85
5000 metres
details |  Doug Padilla (USA) | 13:49.95  |  Jozef Lenčéš (TCH) | 13:50.34  |  Frank Zimmermann (FRG) | 13:50.84
10,000 metres
details †  |  Toomas Turb (URS) | 29:42.83  |  Gyorgi Marko (ROM) | 29:51.13  |  Dave Murphy (GBR) | 29:51.27
Marathon
details |  Ivan Kovalchuk (URS) | 2:22:14 GR |  Herbert Wills (USA) | 2:23:22  |  Gheorghe Buruiana (ROM) | 2:24:45
110 metres hurdles
(wind: +1.0 m/s)
details |  Larry Cowling (USA) | 13.65  |  Pal Palffy (ROM) | 13.73  |  Georgiy Shabanov (URS) | 13.82
400 metres hurdles
details |  David Lee (USA) | 49.05  |  Dmitriy Shkarupin (URS) | 49.52  |  Antônio Dias Ferreira (BRA) | 50.04
3000 metres steeplechase
details |  John Gregorek (USA) | 8:21.26 GR |  Tommy Ekblom (FIN) | 8:21.93  |  Mariano Scartezzini (ITA) | 8:28.03
4 × 100 metres relay
details |  United States (USA)
Mel Lattany
Anthony Ketchum
Jason Grimes
Calvin Smith | 38.70  |  Soviet Union (URS)
Andrey Shlyapnikov
Nikolay Sidorov
Aleksandr Aksinin
Vladimir Muravyov | 38.94  |  France (FRA)
Philippe Le Joncour
Stéphane Adam
Gabriel Brothier
Aldo Canti | 39.50
4 × 400 metres relay
details |  Soviet Union (URS)
Aleksandr Zolotaryev
Vitaliy Fedotov
Viktor Burakov
Viktor Markin
Aleksandr Kurochkin | 3:02.75  |  United States (USA)
David Lee
Anthony Ketchum
David Patrick
Walter McCoy | 3:03.01  |  Brazil (BRA)
Katsuhiko Nakaya
Paulo Roberto Correia
Gérson de Souza
António Euzebio Ferreira | 3:06.79
20 kilometres walk
details |  Maurizio Damilano (ITA) | 1:26:47 GR |  Carlo Mattioli (ITA) | 1:28:10  |  Liodor Pescaru (ROM) | 1:28:56
High jump
details |  Leo Williams (USA) | 2.25 m  |  Zhu Jianhua (CHN) | 2.25 m  |  Gerd Nagel (FRG) | 2.25 m
Pole vault
details |  Konstantin Volkov (URS) | 5.75 m GR |  Vladimir Polyakov (URS) | 5.70 m  |  Philippe Houvion (FRA) | 5.65 m
Long jump
details |  László Szalma (HUN) | 8.23 m (w)  |  Liu Yuhuang (CHN) | 8.11 m  |  Ubaldo Duany (CUB) | 8.10 m
Triple jump
details |  Zou Zhenxian (CHN) | 17.32 m GR |  Béla Bakosi (HUN) | 16.97 m  |  Keith Connor (GBR) | 16.88 m
Shot put
details |  Mike Carter (USA) | 20.19 m  |  Detlef Mortag (GDR) | 19.35 m  |  Dalibor Vašíček (TCH) | 19.20 m
Discus throw
details |  Armin Lemme (GDR) | 65.90 m GR |  Wolfgang Warnemünde (GDR) | 63.54 m  |  Ion Zamfirache (ROM) | 63.40 m
Hammer throw
details |  Klaus Ploghaus (FRG) | 77.74 m GR |  Jüri Tamm (URS) | 76.54 m  |  Igor Nikulin (URS) | 75.24 m
Javelin throw
details |  Dainis Kūla (URS) | 89.52 m GR |  Gerald Weiß (GDR) | 87.80 m  |  Heino Puuste (URS) | 87.22 m
Decathlon
details |  Aleksandr Shablenko (URS) | 8055 pts  |  Sergey Zhelanov (URS) | 8013 pts  |  Georg Werthner (AUT) | 7825 pts

* † = The 10,000 m race was held for one lap too many, resulting in a final distance of 10,400 m.

### Women's events

[edit]

Event  | Gold  | Silver  | Bronze

|
|
|

100 metres
details |  Bev Goddard (GBR) | 11.35  |  Olga Zolotaryova (URS) | 11.51  |  Olga Nasonova (URS) | 11.54
200 metres
(wind: +1.0 m/s)
details |  Kathy Smallwood (GBR) | 22.78  |  Marisa Masullo (ITA) | 23.36  |  Irina Nazarova (URS) | 23.45
400 metres
details |  Irina Baskakova (URS) | 51.45  |  Nadezhda Lyalina (URS) | 51.56  |  Sophie Malbranque (FRA) | 52.52
800 metres
details |  Doina Melinte (ROM) | 1:57.81  |  Gabriella Dorio (ITA) | 1:58.99  |  Tudorita Morutan (ROM) | 1:59.30
1500 metres
details |  Gabriella Dorio (ITA) | 4:05.35 GR |  Doina Melinte (ROM) | 4:05.74  |  Olga Dvirna (URS) | 4:06.39
3000 metres
details |  Breda Pergar (YUG) | 8:53.78 GR |  Valentina Ilyinykh (URS) | 8:54.23  |  Maria Radu (ROM) | 8:58.58
100 metres hurdles
(wind: -0.6 m/s)
details |  Stephanie Hightower (USA) | 13.03  |  Mariya Kemenchezhiy (URS) | 13.13  |  Elżbieta Rabsztyn (POL) | 13.31
400 metres hurdles
details |  Anna Kastyetskaya (URS) | 55.52 GR |  Birgit Sonntag (GDR) | 55.90  |  Tatyana Zubova (URS) | 57.07
4 × 100 metres relay
details |  United States (USA)
Michelle Glover
Carol Lewis
Jackie Washington
Benita Fitzgerald | 43.66  |  Great Britain (GBR)
Yvette Wray
Kathy Smallwood
Sue Hearnshaw
Beverley Goddard | 43.86  |  Italy (ITA)
Antonella Capriotti
Carla Mercurio
Patrizia Lombardo
Marisa Masullo | 44.43
4 × 400 metres relay
details |  Soviet Union (URS)
Ana Ambrazienė
Irina Baskakova
Natalya Alyoshina
Irina Nazarova | 3:26.65  |  United States (USA)
Kelia Bolton
Leann Warren
Robin Campbell
Delisa Walton-Floyd | 3:29.50  |  Romania (ROM)
Steluța Vintila
Stela Manea
Ibolya Korodi
Elena Tărîţă | 3:30.47
High jump
details |  Sara Simeoni (ITA) | 1.96 m GR |  Lyudmila Andonova (BUL) | 1.94 m  |  Tamara Bykova (URS) | 1.94 m
Long jump
details |  Tatyana Kolpakova (URS) | 6.83 m  |  Anişoara Cuşmir (ROM) | 6.77 m  |  Valy Ionescu (ROM) | 6.61 m
Shot put
details |  Helma Knorscheidt (GDR) | 20.24 m  |  Ines Müller (GDR) | 19.66 m  |  Lyudmila Savina (URS) | 18.50 m
Discus throw
details |  Florenţa Crăciunescu (ROM) | 67.48 m GR |  Petra Sziegaud (GDR) | 64.14 m  |  Mariana Ionescu (ROM) | 61.84 m
Javelin throw
details |  Petra Felke (GDR) | 65.20 m  |  Karin Smith (USA) | 64.12 m  |  Mayra Vila (CUB) | 63.88 m
Heptathlon
details |  Małgorzata Guzowska (POL) | 6198 pts  |  Nadezhda Vinogradova (URS) | 6133 pts  |  Corina Tifrea (ROM) | 6033 pts

## Medal table

[edit]

Petra Felke won her first international gold in the javelin and went on to win at the 1988 Summer Olympics. 1980 Olympian Ines Müller took silver in the women's shot put. Javelin runner-up Gerald Weiß was one of many East Germans to medal in the throws.

*   Host nation (Romania)

Rank| Nation| Gold| Silver| Bronze| Total

|
|
|
|
|

1|  Soviet Union (URS)| 11| 10| 11| 32
2|  United States (USA)| 11| 6| 0| 17
3|  East Germany (GDR)| 4| 5| 0| 9
4|  Italy (ITA)| 3| 3| 2| 8
5|  Romania (ROM)*| 2| 4| 9| 15
6|  Great Britain (GBR)| 2| 1| 2| 5
7|  China (CHN)| 1| 2| 0| 3
Hungary (HUN)| 1| 2| 0| 3
Yugoslavia (YUG)| 1| 2| 0| 3
10|  West Germany (FRG)| 1| 0| 2| 3
11|  Poland (POL)| 1| 0| 1| 2
12|  Morocco (MAR)| 1| 0| 0| 1
13|  Bulgaria (BUL)| 0| 1| 0| 1
Czechoslovakia (TCH)| 0| 1| 0| 1
Finland (FIN)| 0| 1| 0| 1
Greece (GRE)| 0| 1| 0| 1
17|  Brazil (BRA)| 0| 0| 3| 3
France (FRA)| 0| 0| 3| 3
19|  Cuba (CUB)| 0| 0| 2| 2
20|  Algeria (ALG)| 0| 0| 1| 1
Austria (AUT)| 0| 0| 1| 1
Ghana (GHA)| 0| 0| 1| 1
Ivory Coast (CIV)| 0| 0| 1| 1
Totals (23 entries)| 39| 39| 39| 117

## References

[edit]

* World Student Games (Universiade – Men). GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2010-08-25.
* World Student Games (Universiade – Women). GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2010-08-25.

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