The athletics competition at the 1981 Summer Universiade

1981 Summer Universiade

The 1981 Summer Universiade, also known as the XI Summer Universiade, took place in Bucharest, Romania. The events were watched by 200,000 spectators.-Medal table:-External links:*...

was held at the National Stadium in Bucharest

Bucharest

Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....

, Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

, 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

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 was the most successful nation medals-wise as it topped the table with eleven gold medal

Gold medal

A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...

s and 32 in total. The United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, runners-up in the competition, also took eleven gold medals, but had a lesser haul overall with 17 medal performances. East Germany and Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 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

Marathon

The marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres , that is usually run as a road race...

 race and a 20 kilometres road walk for the first time, expanding the programme outside of the usual track and field

Track and field

Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...

 stadium. The women's 3000 metres

3000 metres

The 3000 metres is a popular amateur middle distance track event where 7.5 laps are completed around a 400 metre track. This event is generally classified as middle distance, but it could be classed as a long distance event in many high schools, since they do not promote races such as the 5000 and...

 also made its first Games appearance, having been previously held at only the 1975 World University Championships in Athletics competition. The 400 metres hurdles

400 metres hurdles

The 400 metres hurdles is an Olympic athletics event in track and field. On a standard outdoor track 400 metres is the length of the inside lane once around the stadium. Runners stay in their lane the entire way after starting out of the blocks and must clear ten hurdles that are evenly...

 and 4×400 metres relay for women were other new additions to the Universiade athletics contest

Athletics at the Universiade

Athletics is one of the sports at the biennial Universiade competition. It has been one of the event's competed sports since the inaugural edition.-Editions:-See also:*International Athletics Championships and Games...

, while the women's pentathlon

Women's pentathlon

The pentathlon is a sports contest made up of five events . The women's pentathlon was contested in the Olympics from 1964 until 1980, and it was replaced in the 1984 Games with the heptathlon. It had a different set of events than the ancient Olympic pentathlon...

 was replaced with the more extensive heptathlon

Heptathlon

A heptathlon is a track and field athletics combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek hepta and athlon . A competitor in a heptathlon is referred to as a heptathlete.-Women's Heptathlon:...

 event.

Saïd Aouita

Said Aouita

Saïd Aouita is a former Moroccan athlete, winner of 5000 meters at the 1984 Summer Olympics, 5000 meters at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics, 3000 meters at the 1989 IAAF World Indoor Championships, and former world record holder at 1500m , 2000m , 3000m , and twice at 5000m [ and ]...

 demonstrated his potential with a win in the 1500 metres

1500 metres

The 1,500-metre run is the premier middle distance track event.Aerobic endurance is the biggest factor contributing to success in the 1500 metres but the athlete also requires significant sprint speed.In modern times, the 1,500-metre run has been run at a pace faster than the average person could...

 in a Games record time. The 1980 Olympic

Athletics at the 1980 Summer Olympics

Athletics at the 1980 Summer Olympics was represented by 38 events. They were held in the Grand Arena of the Central Lenin Stadium at Luzhniki between July 24 and August 1. There were a total number of 959 participating athletes from 70 countries.-Men's events:-Women's events:-Medal...

 gold medallists Dainis Kūla

Dainis Kula

Dainis Kūla is a Latvian former javelin thrower who represented the Soviet Union at the international level for most of his career. He is most famous for controversially winning the gold medal in men's javelin throw at the 1980 Summer Olympics, becoming the second Latvian to achieve this...

 (javelin) and Maurizio Damilano

Maurizio Damilano

Maurizio Damilano is an Italian former race walker.He was the 1980 Olympic Champion and the 1987 and 1991 World Champion in the 20 km race walk....

 (20 km walk) won their respective disciplines. On the women's side, reigning Olympic champions Tatyana Kolpakova and Sara Simeoni

Sara Simeoni

Sara Simeoni is an Italian former high jumper, who won a gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics and twice set a world record in the women's high jump.-Biography:...

 won the long jump

Long jump

The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength, and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a take off point...

 and high jump

High jump

The high jump is a track and field athletics event in which competitors must jump over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without the aid of certain devices in its modern most practiced format; auxiliary weights and mounds have been used for assistance; rules have changed over the years....

 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

Pole vault

Pole vaulting is a track and field event in which a person uses a long, flexible pole as an aid to leap over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the ancient Greeks, as well as the Cretans and Celts...

. Romanian Doina Melinte

Doina Melinte

Doina Ofelia Melinte is a retired Romanian athlete.She won gold medals over 1500 metres at the European Indoor Championships in 1985, 1988 and 1990, the latter race even being a European record time with 4:00.27...

 won the women's 800 metres

800 metres

The 800 meter race is a common track running event. It is the shortest common middle distance track event. The 800 meter is run over two laps of the track and has always been an Olympic event. During indoor track season the event is usually run on a 200 meter track, therefore requiring four laps...

 gold and 1500 m silver and later went on to win medals of those colours at the 1984 Summer Olympics

1984 Summer Olympics

The 1984 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1984...

. 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.

Men's events

100 metres		10.18		10.26		10.37
200 metres		20.79		20.83		20.97
400 metres		45.18		45.33		45.91
800 metres		1:50.12		1:50.20		1:50.26
1500 metres		3:38.43 GR		3:39.83		3:39.85
5000 metres		13:49.95		13:50.34		13:50.84
10,000 metres †		29:42.83		29:51.13		29:51.27
110 m hurdles		13.65		13.73		13.82
400 m hurdles		49.05		49.52		50.04
3000 m steeplechase		8:21.26 GR		8:21.93		8:28.03
4×100 metres relay		38.70		38.94		39.50
4×400 metres relay		3:02.75		3:03.01		3:06.79
Marathon		2:22:14 GR		2:23:22		2:24:45
20 kilometres walk		1:26:47 GR		1:28:10		1:28:56
High jump		2.25 m		2.25 m		2.25 m
Pole vault		5.75 m GR		5.70 m		5.65 m
Long jump		8.23 m (w)		8.11 m		8.10 m
Triple jump		17.32 m GR		16.97 m		16.88 m
Shot put		20.19 m		19.35 m		19.20 m
Discus throw		65.90 m GR		63.54 m		63.40 m
Hammer throw		77.74 m GR		76.54 m		75.24 m
Javelin throw (old javelin model)		89.52 m GR		87.80 m		87.22 m
Decathlon		8055 pts		8013 pts		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

100 metres		11.35		11.51		11.54
200 metres		22.78		23.36		23.45
400 metres		51.45		51.56		52.52
800 metres		1:57.81		1:58.99		1:59.30
1500 metres		4:05.35 GR		4:05.74		4:06.39
3000 metres		8:53.78 GR		8:54.23		8:58.58
100 m hurdles		13.03		13.13		13.31
400 m hurdles		55.52 GR		55.90		57.07
4×100 metres relay		43.66		43.86		44.43
4×400 metres relay		3:26.65		3:29.50		3:30.47
High jump		1.96 m GR		1.94 m		1.94 m
Long jump		6.83 m		6.77 m		6.61 m
Shot put		20.24 m		19.66 m		18.50 m
Discus throw		67.48 m GR		64.14 m		61.84 m
Javelin throw		65.20 m		64.12 m		63.88 m
Heptathlon		6198 pts		6133 pts		6033 pts

Medal table

Key:

1	Soviet Union	11	10	11	32
2	United States	11	6	0	17
3	German Democratic Republic	4	5	0	9
4	Italy	3	3	2	8
5	Romania	2	4	9	15
6	United Kingdom	2	1	2	5
7=	People's Republic of China	1	2	0	3
7=	Hungary	1	2	0	3
7=	Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia	1	2	0	3
10	West Germany	1	0	2	3
11	Poland	1	0	1	2
12	Morocco	1	0	0	1
13=	Bulgaria	0	1	0	1
13=	Czechoslovakia	0	1	0	1
13=	Finland	0	1	0	1
13=	Greece	0	1	0	1
17=	Brazil	0	0	3	3
17=	France	0	0	3	3
19	Cuba	0	0	2	2
20=	Algeria	0	0	1	1
20=	Austria	0	0	1	1
20=	Côte d'Ivoire	0	0	1	1
20=	Ghana	0	0	1	1
Total		39	39	39	117