The athletics at the 1997 Summer Universiade took place in the Stadio Cibali in Catania, Sicily (Italy) at the end of August 1997, shortly after the World Championships in Athens, Greece. New events were the women's hammer throw, pole vault and half marathon competition. The marathon was dropped from the programme in favour of the half distance. A total of 23 men's and 22 women's events were contested (the difference being that steeplechase was held for men only).
| Athletics at the 1997 Summer Universiade | |
|---|---|
 Host stadium in 2010. | |
| Dates | 26–31 August 1997 |
| Host city | Catania, Italy |
| Venue | Stadio Cibali |
| Level | Senior |
| Events | 45 |
The United States topped the athletics medal table (as it had in 1995) with a total of 21 medals, eight of them gold. Russia was the next most successful nation, with six golds among its haul of 16 medals. Ukraine won five gold medals, while Cuba won four events and had the third highest medal total at twelve. The host nation, Italy, won eight medals. A total of 34 nations reached the medal table.
Among the 1995 men's champions, Ukrainian shot putter Yuriy Bilonoh and hammer thrower Balázs Kiss of Hungary successfully defended their titles. On the women's side, double distance champion Gabriela Szabo won the 1500 metres again and Russia's Natalya Sadova repeated as discus throw winner. Student-athletes Szabo, Iván Pedroso (long jump) Yoelbi Quesada (triple jump) and Marius Corbett (javelin) won both Universiade and World Championships gold medals that year, though there was an upset in the Universiade racewalking events, as world champion and world leader Annarita Sidoti only managed third place.
Medal summary
editMen
edit| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 metres (Wind: -0.5) |
 Vincent Henderson (USA) |
10.22 |  Aleksandr Porkhomovskiy (RUS) |
10.39 | Jonathan Carter (USA) |
10.42 |
| 200 metres (Wind: -0.3) |
Gentry Bradley (USA) |
20.48 | Tony Wheeler (USA) |
20.64 |  Anninos Marcoullides (CYP) |
20.72 |
| 400 metres |
 Clement Chukwu (NGR) |
44.81 | Jerome Davis (USA) |
45.30 |  Linval Laird (JAM) |
45.54 |
| 800 metres |
 Norberto Téllez (CUB) |
1:47.63 |  Hezekiél Sepeng (RSA) |
1:47.77 | Bryan Woodward (USA) |
1:48.43 |
| 1500 metres |
 Anthony Whiteman (GBR) |
3:43.57 |  Carlos García (ESP) |
3:43.97 |  António Travassos (POR) |
3:44.14 |
| 5000 metres |
 Simone Zanon (ITA) |
13:57.54 |  Thorsten Naumann (GER) |
13:58.35 | Dan Browne (USA) |
14:00.94 |
| 10,000 metres |
 Kamiel Maase (NED) |
28:22.11 | Dan Browne (USA) |
28:27.64 | Rachid Berradi (ITA) |
28:30.05 |
| 110 metres hurdles (Wind: -0.7) |
Andrey Kislykh (RUS) |
13.44 |  Jonathan Nsenga (BEL) |
13.51 | Dudley Dorival (USA) |
13.53 |
| 400 metres hurdles |
Llewellyn Herbert (RSA) |
48.99 | Ruslan Mashchenko (RUS) |
49.36 |  Mubarak Al-Nubi (QAT) |
49.48 |
| 3000 metres steeplechase |
Mark Ostendarp (GER) |
8:25.83 | Marcel Laros (NED) |
8:27.91 |  Michael Buchleitner (AUT) |
8:28.92 |
| 4 × 100 metres relay |
United States (USA) Vincent Henderson Bryan Howard Jonathan Carter Tony McCall |
38.48 | Cuba (CUB) Anier García Misael Ortiz Iván García Luis Alberto Pérez Rionda |
38.52 | Great Britain (GBR) Dan Money Jamie Henthorn Ross Baillie Douglas Walker |
39.23 |
| 4 × 400 metres relay |
United States (USA) Octavius Terry Tony Wheeler Jerome Davis Bryan Woodward |
3:02.53 | Jamaica (JAM) Ian Weakley Linval Laird Garth Robinson Dennis Blake |
3:02.68 | Great Britain (GBR) Richard Knowles Sean Baldock Mark Sesay Jared Deacon |
3:02.74 |
| Half marathon |
 Marílson dos Santos (BRA) |
1:03:32 |  Stephen Mayaka (KEN) |
1:03:51 | Solomon Wachira (KEN) |
1:04:05 |
| 20 kilometres walk |
Ilya Markov (RUS) |
1:25:36 |  Alejandro López (MEX) |
1:26:00 | Arturo Di Mezza (ITA) |
1:26:12 |
| High jump |
 Lee Jin-Taek (KOR) |
2.32 |  Charles Lefrançois (CAN) |
2.32 |  Didier Detchénique (FRA) |
2.28 |
| Pole vault |
Khalid Lachheb (FRA) |
5.70 | Chad Harting (USA) |
5.60 | Werner Holl (GER) |
5.55 |
| Long jump |
Iván Pedroso (CUB) |
8.40 | James Beckford (JAM) |
8.35 |  Gregor Cankar (SLO) |
8.11 |
| Triple jump |
Yoelbi Quesada (CUB) |
17.35 | Aliecer Urrutia (CUB) |
17.11 | Robert Howard (USA) |
17.08 |
| Shot put |
 Yuriy Bilonoh (UKR) |
20.34 | Paolo Dal Soglio (ITA) |
20.01 | Brian Miller (USA) |
19.72 |
| Discus throw |
 Vladimir Dubrovshchik (BLR) |
66.40 | Andy Bloom (USA) |
63.12 | Doug Reynolds (USA) |
62.76 |
| Hammer throw |
 Balázs Kiss (HUN) |
79.42 | Vadim Kolesnik (UKR) |
77.16 | Ilya Konovalov (RUS) |
76.16 |
| Javelin throw |
Marius Corbett (RSA) |
86.50 | Emeterio González (CUB) |
83.48 | Gregor Högler (AUT) |
81.12 |
| Decathlon |
 Roman Šebrle (CZE) |
8380 | Kamil Damašek (CZE) |
8072 | Marcel Dost (NED) |
7899 |
Women
editMedal table
edit* Host nation (Italy)
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  United States (USA) | 8 | 5 | 8 | 21 |
| 2 | Russia (RUS) | 6 | 7 | 3 | 16 |
| 3 | Ukraine (UKR) | 5 | 4 | 0 | 9 |
| 4 | Cuba (CUB) | 4 | 6 | 2 | 12 |
| 5 | Germany (GER) | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
 Romania (ROM) | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | |
| 7 | South Africa (RSA) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 8 | Great Britain (GBR) | 2 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| 9 | Belarus (BLR) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 10 | Nigeria (NGR) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 11 | Italy (ITA)* | 1 | 4 | 3 | 8 |
| 12 | Netherlands (NED) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 13 | France (FRA) | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| 14 | Czech Republic (CZE) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 15 |  Japan (JPN) | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 16 |  Australia (AUS) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 17 | Brazil (BRA) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 Greece (GRE) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Hungary (HUN) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| South Korea (KOR) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 21 |  China (CHN) | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 22 | Canada (CAN) | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 23 | Jamaica (JAM) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 24 | Kenya (KEN) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Portugal (POR) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 26 | Belgium (BEL) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Mexico (MEX) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Spain (ESP) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 29 | Austria (AUT) | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 30 |  Bulgaria (BUL) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Cyprus (CYP) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Poland (POL) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Qatar (QAT) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Slovenia (SLO) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (34 entries) | 45 | 45 | 45 | 135 | |
References
edit- World Student Games (Universiade - Men) - GBR Athletics
- World Student Games (Universiade - Women) - GBR Athletics
- Results on HickokSports