THE WORLD ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS are 40 years old this August. Helsinki was the perfect inaugural host back in 1983, free from superpower politics and the boycotts which tarnished both the Moscow and L.A. Olympics in 1980 and 1984 respectively, and with crowds which knew and loved the sport.
Carl Lewis won three golds and was labelled “Superman” by ; Edwin Moses and Daley Thompson continued to dominate their events; and, less palatably with all we now know about state-sponsored doping, Eastern bloc women won every track event up to 800m and every field event bar
