Pietro Paolo Mennea, nicknamed la Freccia del Sud, was an Italian sprinter and politician. He was most successful in the 200m event, winning a gold medal at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, and set a world record at 19.72 seconds in September 1979. This record stood for almost 17 years – the longest duration in the event history – and is still the European record. He is the only male sprinter who has qualified at four consecutive 200 metres Olympic finals: from 1972 to 1984.
The Brazilian Football Confederation is the governing body of football in Brazil. It was founded on Monday, 8 June 1914, as Federação Brasileira de Sports, and renamed Confederação Brasileira de Desportos in 1916. The football confederation, as known today, separated from other sports associations on 24 September 1979. Between 1914 and 1979 it was the governing body, or at least the international reference, for other olympic sports, such as tennis, athletics, handball, swimming and waterpolo. It currently has the most wins on FIFA world cups, with a total of five.
Walter L. Davis is an American athlete competing in the triple jump and occasionally in the long jump. He was born in Lafayette, Louisiana
Alan Peter Pascoe is a British former athlete who gained success in hurdles. After his athletics career, he has been successful in events marketing and consulting.
The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship level events. The race consists of 25 laps around an Olympic-sized track. It is less commonly held at track and field meetings, due to its duration. The 10,000-metre track race is usually distinguished from its road running counterpart, the 10K run, by its reference to the distance in metres rather than kilometres.
Pilavullakandi Thekkeraparambil Usha is a retired Indian track and field athlete. She was born in Kuthali, Kozhikode, Kerala. She has been associated with Indian athletics since 1979. She has won 4 Asian gold medals and 7 Silver medals. She is often associated as the "Queen of Indian track and field". On 6 July 2022, she was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by former President Ram Nath Kovind. In December 2022, Usha has been elected president of the Indian Olympic Association unopposed. In Dec 2022, PT Usha has been appointed to the panel of Rajyasabha vice chairman to control the proceedings of the upper house during the absence of both Chairman & Deputy Chairman.She is the first nominated MP in history to become the Vice Chairperson of Rajyasabha
The World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships is a racewalking event organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations. It has been held since 1961, and generally on a biennial basis. Women first entered the 1979 edition. It was formerly known as the Lugano Cup after the city that hosted the first event, then became the IAAF World Race Walking Cup until 2016 and then IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships until 2018. In 2004, a junior division was added, consisting of men and women aged under 20. Since 2008 it has been a constituent meeting of the World Athletics Challenge – Race Walking.
The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track.
Michael Scott Tully is an American pole vaulter. He represented the United States twice in the Olympics, earning a silver in 1984, and held the American pole vault record from 1984 to 1985.
The African Championships in Athletics is a continental athletics event organized by the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA), the continental association for the sport in Africa. Since its inaugural edition in 1979 it was at first organised intermittently with nine editions held in fourteen years until 1993. Following the tenth edition in 1996 it has been organised biennially on even years, and is always held in the same year as the Summer Olympics. The 21st edition was held in Asaba, Nigeria in August 2018.
The 1979 African Championships in Athletics were held in the Stade Iba Mar Diop in Dakar, Senegal, between 2 and 5 August. There were a total number of 251 competitors from 24 countries, with 23 men's and 16 women's events.
Tony Darden is an American former track and field athlete, who competed in the sprints events during his career. He is best known for winning the men's 400-meter dash at the 1979 Pan American Games in San Juan.
Totka Nikolaeva Petrova is a retired female middle distance runner who represented Bulgaria in the 1970s and the early 1980s. She specialized in the 800 and 1500 metres, and won numerous international medals. She is still the Bulgarian 1500 metres record holder.
Julie Ann Brown is an American retired distance runner. She won the IAAF World Cross Country Championship in 1975 and represented the United States in the 1984 Summer Olympics in the women's marathon, placing 36th.
The Central American and Caribbean Athletic Confederation (CACAC) is a confederation governing body of athletics for national governing bodies and multi-national federations within Central America and the Caribbean. Membership of the Confederation is open to all national governing bodies for the sport of athletics in any country or territory in the region which is affiliated to World Athletics. Other countries may be granted observer status and may, with permission of the Congress, be allowed to compete in open championships. They will, however, not be entitled to vote at the Congress.
The Meeting de Atletismo Madrid is an annual international athletics meeting that takes place at the Centro Deportivo Municipal Moratalaz in Madrid, Spain. The inaugural edition took place in 1979 at Estadio de Vallehermoso. After several years the meeting moved from 1994 until 2004 to Estadio de Madrid and then back to Vallehermoso from until 2008. Until 2020 it was part of the IAAF World Challenge and is now a World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meeting.
Patrizia Lombardo is an Italian former hurdler and sprinter.
The 1979 European Cup was the seventh edition of the European Cup of athletics.
1979 World Masters Athletics Championships is the third in a series of World Masters Athletics Outdoor Championships that took place in Hannover, Germany, from 27 July to 2 August 1979.
Silvio Leonard (CUB)
Houston McTear (USA)
Nikolay Sidorov (URS)
Dele Udo (NGR)
Detlef Wagenknecht (GDR)
Miruts Yifter (ETH)
Gerard Barrett (AUS)
Shigeru So (JPN)
Paul Copu (ROM)
Gerd Nagel (FRG)
Antti Kalliomäki (FIN)
Velko Velev (BUL)