| Event:
| Gold:
| Silver:
| Bronze:
|
| 100 m Men
| Carl Lewis, USA
| Calvin Smith, USA
| Emmit King, USA
|
| 100 m Women
| Marlies Göhr, East Germany
| Marita Koch, East Germany
| Diane Williams, USA
|
| 100 m Hurdles Women
| Bettine Jahn, East Germany
| Kerstin Knabe, East Germany
| Ginka Zagorcheva, Bulgaria
|
| 110 m Hurdles Men
| Greg Foster, USA
| Arto Bryggare, Finland
| Willie Gault, USA
|
| 200 m Men
| Calvin Smith, USA
| Elliott Quow, USA
| Pietro Mennea, Italy
|
| 200 m Women
| Marita Koch, East Germany
| Merlene Ottey, Jamaica
| Kathy Cook, Great Britain
|
| 400 m Men
| Bert Cameron, Jamaica
| Mike Franks, USA
| Sunder Nix, USA
|
| 400 m Women
| Jarmila Kratochvílová, Czechoslovakia
| Tatána Kocembová, Czechoslovakia
| Mariya Pinigina, USSR
|
| 400 m Hurdles Men
| Edwin Moses, USA
| Harald Schmid, West Germany
| Aleksandr Kharlov, USSR
|
| 400 m Hurdles Women
| Bärbel Broschat, East Germany
| Ellen Neumann, East Germany
| Petra Pfaff, East Germany
|
| 800 m Men
| Willi Wülbeck, West Germany
| Rob Druppers, Netherlands
| Joaquim Cruz, Brazil
|
| 800 m Women
| Jarmila Kratochvílová, Czechoslovakia
| Lyubov Gurina, USSR
| Yekaterina Podkopayeva, USSR
|
| 1500 m Men
| Steve Cram, Great Britain
| Steve Scott, USA
| Saïd Aouita, Morocco
|
| 1500 m Women
| Mary Decker, USA
| Zamira Zaytseva, USSR
| Yekaterina Podkopayeva, USSR
|
| 3000 m Women
| Mary Decker, USA
| Brigitte Kraus, West Germany
| Tatyana Kazankina, USSR
|
| 3,000 m Steeplechase Men
| Patriz Ilg, West Germany
| Boguslaw Maminski, Poland
| Colin Reitz, Great Britain
|
| 5,000 m Men
| Eamonn Coghlan, Ireland
| Werner Schildhauer, East Germany
| Martti Vainio, Finland
|
| 10,000 m Men
| Alberto Cova, Italy
| Werner Schildhauer, East Germany
| Hansjörg Kunze, East Germany
|
| Marathon Men
| Rob de Castella, Australia
| Kebebe Balcha, Ethiopia
| Waldemar Cierpinski, East Germany
|
| Marathon Women
| Grete Waitz, Norway
| Marianne Dickerson, USA
| Raisa Smekhnova, USSR
|
| 20 km Walk Men
| Ernesto Canto, Mexico
| Jozef Pribilinec, Czechoslovakia
| Yevgeniy Yevsyukov, USSR
|
| 50 km Walk Men
| Ronald Weigel, East Germany
| José Marín, Spain
| Sergey Yung, USSR
|
| 4 x 100 m Relay Men
| USA
| Italy
| USSR
|
| 4 x 100 m Women
| East Germany
| Great Britain
| Jamaica
|
| 4 x 400 m Men
| USSR
| West Germany
| Great Britain
|
| 4 x 400 m Women
| East Germany
| Czechoslovakia
| USSR
|
| Event:
| Gold:
| Silver:
| Bronze:
|
| Long Jump Men
| Carl Lewis, USA
| Jason Grimes, USA
| Mike Conley, USA
|
| Long Jump Women
| Heike Daute, East Germany
| Anisoara Cusmir, Romania
| Carol Lewis, USA
|
| Triple Jump Men
| Zdzislaw Hoffmann, Poland
| Wille Banks, USA
| Ajayi Agbebaku, Nigeria
|
| high jump Men
| Gennadiy Avdeyenko, USSR
| Tyke Peacock, USA
| Zhu Jianhua, China
|
| high jump Women
| Tamara Bykova, USSR
| Ulrike Meyfarth, West Germany
| Louise Ritter, USA
|
| javelin throw Men
| Detlef Michel, East Germany
| Tom Petranoff, USA
| Dainis Kûla, USSR
|
| javelin throw Women
| Tiina Lillak, Finland
| Fatima Whitbread, Great Britain
| Anna Verouli, Greece
|
| Discus Men
| Imrich Bugár, Czechoslovakia
| Luis Delís, Cuba
| Gejza Valent, Czechoslovakia
|
| Discus Women
| Martina Opitz, East Germany
| Galina Murashova, USSR
| Maria Petkova, Bulgaria
|
| Hammer Men
| Sergey Litvinov, USSR
| Yuriy Sedykh, USSR
| Zdzislaw Kwasny, Poland
|
| Shot Put Men
| Edward Sarul, Poland
| Ulf Timmermann, East Germany
| Remigius Machura, Czechoslovakia
|
| Shot Put Women
| Helena Fibingerová, Czechoslovakia
| Helma Knorscheidt, East Germany
| Ilona Slupianek, East Germany
|
| pole vault Men
| Sergey Bubka, USR
| Konstantin Volkov, USSR
| Atanas Tarev, Bulgaria
|
| Heptathlon Women
| Ramona Neubert, East Germany
| Sabine Paetz, East Germany
| Anke Vater, East Germany
|
| Decathlon Men
| Daley Thompson, Great Britain
| Jürgen Hingsen, West Germany
| Siegfried Wentz, West Germany
|
