The 4th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Skydome in Toronto, Canada from March 12 to March 14, 1993. It was the last Indoor Championships to feature the 5,000 and 3,000 metres race walk events. In addition, it was the first Indoor Championships to include heptathlon and pentathlon, albeit as non-championship events. There were a total number of 537 athletes participated from 93 countries.
The Russian 4 x 400 m relay team won the event and was awarded the gold medal, but was later disqualified when Marina Shmonina was found to have been doping.
Non-championship events
Some events were contested without counting towards the total medal status. The 1600 metres medley relay consisted of four legs over 800 m, 200 m, 200 m and 400 m.
Four medalists were disqualified for doping; Rostislav Dimitrov of Bulgaria was stripped of the triple jump silver, Inger Miller of the USA was stripped of the 60 metre bronze, Vita Pavlysh of the Ukraine was stripped of the shot put gold and Irina Korzhanenko of Russia was stripped of the shot put silver.
Results
Men
Rostislav Dimitrov of Bulgaria originally came second in the triple jump and was awarded the silver medal, but was later disqualified for doping.
Women
American sprinter Inger Miller won the bronze but failed a post-race drug test (excessive caffeine) and was stripped of the medal.
The IAAF announced on March 25, 2007 at an IAAF Council meeting in Mombasa, Kenya that it had received bids from Turkey and Qatar to host the championships. On November 25, in a Council meeting in Monaco, the IAAF announced that Doha would host the championships. This was the first time that a world athletics championship was held in the Middle-East and the second time the World Indoor Championships was held outside of Europe or North America (after the 1999 Championships in Japan).
The International Association of Athletics Federations World Indoor Championships were inaugurated as the World Indoor Games in 1985 in Paris, France and were subsequently renamed in 1987 as they are known today.
History
They have been held every two years except for when they were held in consecutive years 2003 and 2004 to facilitate the need for them to be held in alternate years to the main IAAF World Championships (outdoors) in the future.
Championships
Events
The events held have remained more or less the same since they originated with the main alterations coming in the earlier years.
The 4x400m relay race for both men and women was added to the full schedule in 1991 as was the women's triple jump, but only as an exhibition event before gaining full status at the following championships.
1993 saw the last of the racewalking events included and a 1600m medley relay was tried but dropped for future games. This same year a men's heptathlon and women's pentathlon were successfully introduced as non-championship events and have remained in place since.
The event is likely not to feature a traditional athletics power, Russia. Following a WADA investigation into widespread and institutional doping practices in Russian athletics, the IAAF provisionally suspended Russia's membership of the organisation in November 2015, effectively excluding the country both from hosting events and entering competitions.
Russia's effective exclusion from the tournament was confirmed in November 2015 when it was announced by IAAF that a decision over lifting its provisinal suspension from international athletics would not be taken until the end of March at the earliest.
The 4th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Skydome in Toronto, Canada from March 12 to March 14, 1993. It was the last Indoor Championships to feature the 5,000 and 3,000 metres race walk events. In addition, it was the first Indoor Championships to include heptathlon and pentathlon, albeit as non-championship events. There were a total number of 537 athletes participated from 93 countries.
The Russian 4 x 400 m relay team won the event and was awarded the gold medal, but was later disqualified when Marina Shmonina was found to have been doping.
Non-championship events
Some events were contested without counting towards the total medal status. The 1600 metres medley relay consisted of four legs over 800 m, 200 m, 200 m and 400 m.
... Championships. Vereen clinched three relay medals on the international stage, including a silver at the 1993World Championships in Athletics and a gold in the ‘93 IAAF World Indoor Championships.
