1989 World Masters Athletics Championships is the eighth in a series of World Masters Athletics Outdoor Championships (called World Veterans Championships at the time) that took place from 27 July to 6 August 1989 in Eugene, Oregon,

known as the "Track Capital of the World" and as TrackTown USA.

Athletes from the Soviet Union participated for the first time in this series.

The main venue was Hayward Field,

which had hosted the United States track and field Olympic trials in 1972, 1976, and 1980. Some stadia events were held at Silke Field in adjacent Springfield.

This championships was considered a bigger sporting event than those Olympic trials.

Four-time Olympic Champion Al Oerter called these Championships "more like the Olympics than the Olympics", since participating athletes consistently outnumber those at the Olympic Games track and field events. The 4951 participants at this year's "world's largest track meet" dwarfed the 1617 athletics competitors at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.

The 1968 Summer Olympics 1500m gold medalist Kipchoge Keino carried a friendship torch into the stadium to light an Olympic-style flame during opening ceremonies on Friday, 26 July.

The closing ceremonies was considered more moving than that of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

This edition of masters athletics Championships had a minimum age limit of 35 years for women and 40 years for men.

The governing body of this series is World Association of Veteran Athletes (WAVA). WAVA was formed during meeting at the inaugural edition of this series at Toronto in 1975, then officially founded during the second edition in 1977, then renamed as World Masters Athletics (WMA) at the Brisbane Championships in 2001.

This Championships was organized by WAVA in coordination with a Local Organising Committee (LOC) of Tom Jordan, Barbara Kousky.

In addition to a full range of track and field events,

non-stadia events included 10K Cross Country, 10K Race Walk (women), 20K Race Walk (men), and Marathon. Another non-stadia event was new for this series: a 10K Road Race, run through the streets of Eugene.

In the stadia events, the Pentathlon was replaced by Decathlon for men and by Heptathlon for women,

and women's steeplechase was introduced for the first time; the distance was 2K though the barrier height was the same as the men's at 91.4 cm for this Championships.

South Africa South Africa had been expelled by the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) in 1976 due to the apartheid policy of the South African government at that time.

The participation of South African athletes in WAVA competitions had been at odds with the IAAF, specifically due to the 1977 WAVA constitution which had stated that

As a compromise, South Africans often competed at these Championships under the flag of other nations before 1987.

During General Assembly at the 1987 Championships, WAVA delegates approved a motion to amend the WAVA constitution and exclude countries whose national federation is suspended by the IAAF.

Thus South African athletes were officially banned from these Championships, and would not be welcomed back until the 1993 edition in Miyazaki,

after the abolition of apartheid and the readmittance of South Africa into IAAF in 1992.

World Records Past Championships results are archived at WMA.

Additional archives are available from Museum of Masters Track & Field

as a pdf book,

as a searchable pdf,

and in pdf newsletters from National Masters News.

Several masters world records were set at this Championships. World records for 1989 are from the list of World Records in the Museum of Masters Track & Field pdf book unless otherwise noted.

Key:

Women EventAthlete(s)NationalityPerformanceW60 100 MetersShirley PetersonW40 200 MetersPhil RaschkerW55 200 MetersIrene OberaW60 200 MetersShirley PetersonW65 200 MetersPaula SchneiderhanW55 400 MetersIrene OberaW60 400 MetersAnn CooperW65 400 MetersAnna ManglerW45 800 MetersCarol FlexerW60 800 MetersAnn CooperW65 800 MetersAnna ManglerW70 800 MetersBritta TibblingW75 800 MetersJohanna LutherW45 1500 MetersBarbara LehmannW70 1500 MetersBritta TibblingW75 1500 MetersJohanna LutherW45 5000 MetersJoan ColmanW55 5000 MetersMarion IrvineW60 5000 MetersShirley BrasherW70 5000 MetersPat DixonW75 5000 MetersJohanna LutherW45 10000 MetersElaine StathamW65 10000 MetersRosamund DashwoodW70 10000 MetersPat DixonW75 10000 MetersJohanna LutherW50 80 Meters HurdlesElżbieta KrzesińskaElżbieta Krzesińska was misclassified in W55 in the resultsW55 300 Meters HurdlesWanda Sakata Dos SantosW45 400 Meters HurdlesMarjorie HocknellW40 Triple JumpPhil RaschkerW50 Triple JumpElżbieta KrzesińskaW40 High JumpYordanka BlagoevaW45 High JumpJoanna Meryl SmallwoodChristel HäuserW60 High JumpChristiane WipperstegW40 Long JumpSilke MattelsonW50 Long JumpElżbieta KrzesińskaW55 Shot PutRosemary ChrimesW60 Shot PutMarianne HammW55 Discus ThrowRosemary ChrimesW60 Shot PutMarianne HammW75 Shot PutJohanna GelbrichW50 Javelin ThrowGertrude SchoenauerW60 Javelin ThrowRachel Hanssens

Men EventAthlete(s)NationalityPerformanceM40 100 MetersEddie HartM40 200 MetersEddie HartM50 200 MetersReginald AustinM55 200 MetersRon TaylorM40 400 MetersJames KingM60 400 MetersJack GreenwoodM65 400 MetersTom HishonM50 800 MetersAlan BradfordM55 800 MetersTom RobertsM90 800 MetersPaul SpanglerM40 1500 MetersWilson WaigwaM60 1500 MetersDerek TurnbullM70 1500 MetersJohn GilmourM90 1500 MetersPaul SpanglerM50 5000 MetersDan ConwayM70 5000 MetersJohn GilmourM75 5000 MetersAlfred FunkM90 5000 MetersPaul SpanglerM55 10000 MetersNorman GreenM90 10000 MetersPaul SpanglerM70 2000 Meters SteeplechaseDaniel BuckleyM50 3000 Meters SteeplechaseNils UndersåkerM70 80 Meters HurdlesAlfred GuidetAlfred Guidet achieved M70 80m Hurdles World Record of 14.50 in Heat 2M80 80 Meters HurdlesKarl TreiM50 100 Meters HurdlesCharles MillerM55 100 Meters HurdlesRichard HickmannM40 110 Meters HurdlesStan DruckreyM40 110 Meters HurdlesRichard KatusRichard Katus placed 2nd to Stan Druckrey in M40 110m HurdlesM60 300 Meters HurdlesJack GreenwoodM70 300 Meters HurdlesDaniel BuckleyM40 400 Meters HurdlesJames KingM50 4 x 100 Meters RelayKen Dennis, Gilbert LaTorre, Martyn Adamson, Robert MillerM70 4 x 100 Meters RelayJeff Bloomfield, Nathaniel Heard, Bill Weinacht, Payton JordanM40 4 x 400 Meters RelayDaniel Thiel, Kenneth Brinker, Richard Tucker, James KingM50 4 x 400 Meters RelayJackson Steffes, James Mathis, Martyn Adamson, Larry ColbertM60 4 x 400 Meters RelayBernard Stevens, Charles Socher, Jim Law, Jack GreenwoodM70 4 x 400 Meters RelayJeff Bloomfield, Payton Jordan, Jay Sponseler, Bill WeinachtM75 Long JumpMorita MasumiM80 Long JumpGulab SinghM40 Triple JumpMilan TiffM55 Triple JumpOlavi NiemiM60 High JumpJames GillcristM75 High JumpEsko KolhonenM80 High JumpGulab SinghM60 Shot PutTorsten Von WachenfeldtM75 Shot PutRoss CarterM65 Hammer throwEino AnttilaM50 Discus ThrowAl OerterM50 Javelin ThrowBill Morales

References