Athletics Continental Cup

The Athletics Continental Cup, which was held as the Athletics World Cup up to and including 2006 , was an international athletics event hosted by the IAAF (now called World Athletics ).

Most recently, the Continental Cup was held every four years and took place for the last time in 2018 in Ostrava , Czech Republic . Since it was first held, not only the name of the event but also the regulations had changed. The four teams Africa , America , Australasia ( Oceania / Asia ) and Europe competed against each other. In each competition two members of each team started and in the middle and long distance three members, whereby only the best two athletes of each team were rated. The winning team was determined by adding up the points scored by the representatives of the respective team in the individual disciplines. The results for men and women were added together.

history

The organization of the World Cup was decided at the 30th meeting of the IAAF in 1976, beginning with the first event in 1977 in Düsseldorf and thereafter every two years. According to then IAAF President Adriaan Paulen , the reasons why the World Cup was launched were:

• To strengthen solidarity and friendship between athletes around the world.
• To give outstanding athletes the opportunity to prove themselves between the Olympics .
• Advance the development of athletics around the world.

The first three World Cups in 1977, 1979 and 1981 took place as planned. Because of the newly established World Athletics Championships , which were held for the first time in 1983, the period of the World Cup changed. From 1981 the World Cup should take place every four years. However, this regulation was broken with the World Cup in 1992, which took place three years after the World Cup in 1989. The next World Cup took place in 1994. After that, the four-year cycle was restored.

The athletes taking part in the World Cup represented individual countries or continents. Eight teams were eligible - three national teams and five continental selections: the three national teams were the United States and the winner and runner-up of the European Athletics Cup . In addition, there were the continental selections from Europe (without the two best placed in the European Cup), the American double continent (without the United States ), Africa , Asia and Oceania . If the host's stadium had an additional track, the host could also field a team. The results of the men's and women's teams were determined separately until 2006.

In 2008 the IAAF decided on the current format and renamed the event.

On March 12, 2020, the World Athletics Association decided to discontinue the event. The Continental Cup had paved the way to the World Championships . Since these now take place every two years, one of the reasons for the hiring was that the demand for the Continental Cup was no longer so high.

Event overview

event	city	country	date	Stadion	athlete	Nations
World Cup 1977	Dusseldorf	BR Germany	September 2nd to 4th	Rheinstadion	313	52
World Cup 1979	Montreal	Canada	August 24th to 26th	Olympic Stadium	323	43
World Cup 1981	Rome	Italy	September 4th to 6th	Olympic Stadium	357	49
World Cup 1985	Canberra	Australia	October 4th to 6th	Canberra Stadium	328	51
World Cup 1989	Barcelona	Spain	September 8-10	Olympic Stadium	392	44
World Cup 1992	Havana	Cuba	September 25-27	Estadio Panamericano	367	63
World Cup 1994	London	United Kingdom	September 9-11	Crystal Palace National Sports Center	341	50
World Cup 1998	Johannesburg	South Africa	September 11-13	Johannesburg Stadium	335	58
World Cup 2002	Madrid	Spain	September 21-22	Estadio de Madrid
World Cup 2006	Athens	Greece	September 16-17	Olympic Stadium
Continental Cup 2010	Split	Croatia	3rd to 5th September	Poljud Stadium
Continental Cup 2014	Marrakech	Morocco	September 13th and 14th	Stade de Marrakech
Continental Cup 2018	Ostrava	Czech Republic	September 8th and 9th	Městský stadion - Vítkovice Aréna

Top ranked teams

event		Cup winner	place 2	place 3
World Cup 1977	Men	GDR	United States	BR Germany
	Women	Europe	GDR	Soviet Union
World Cup 1979	Men	United States	Europe	GDR
	Women	GDR	Soviet Union	Europe
World Cup 1981	Men	Europe	GDR	United States
	Women	GDR	Europe	Soviet Union
World Cup 1985	Men	United States	Soviet Union	GDR
	Women	GDR	Soviet Union	Europe
World Cup 1989	Men	United States	Europe	United Kingdom
	Women	GDR	Soviet Union	America
World Cup 1992	Men	Africa	United Kingdom	Europe
	Women	CIS	Europe	America
World Cup 1994	Men	Africa	United Kingdom	America
	Women	Europe	America	Germany
World Cup 1998	Men	Africa	Europe	Germany
	Women	United States	Europe	Africa
World Cup 2002	Men	Africa	Europe	United States
	Women	Russia	Europe	America
World Cup 2006	Men	Europe	United States	Africa
	Women	Russia	Europe	America
Continental Cup 2010		America	Europe	Africa
Continental Cup 2014		Europe	America	Africa
Continental Cup 2018		America	Europe	Asia Pacific

literature

• Mark Butler (Ed.): IAAF Statistics Handbook. 1st IAAF / VTB Bank Continental Cup Split 2010. IAAF, 2010 ( PDF; 4.49 MB ( memento from October 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive ))

Web links

• Results of the World Cups 1977–2002 on gbrathletics.com
• Official website of the Continental Cup 2010 ( Memento from May 1, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
• Timetable and results 2018 in Ostrava

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Michael Pavitt: Continental Cup scrapped by World Athletics after 43 years , on: insidethegames.biz, from March 12, 2020, accessed March 13, 2020