The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) organizes the World Championships in Athletics. It was initially planned to be held every fours years, but after the third event it was changed to be every two years.

From 1913, the IAAF decided that the World Championships for athletics will be the Olympic Games. This went on for 50 years.

In the 1960s, certain members of the IAAF thought that being in the Olympics Games is not enough. They wanted their own games and in 1976, the members of IAAF had a meeting in Puerto Rico, agreeing that they should separate the Athletics World Championships from the Olympic Games.

race finish at the Athletics World Championshipsrace finish at the Athletics World Championships
The inaugural competition in August 1983 was held in Finland,. The games were held in the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. There were 1,300 athletes from 154 countries.