IAAF World Championships in Athletics the desire of many IAAF members to have their own World Championships began to grow. In 1976 at the IAAF Council Meeting in Puerto Rico an Athletics World Championships separate from the Olympic Games was approved. Following bids from both Stuttgart, West Germany and Helsinki, Finland, the IAAF Council awarded the inaugural competition to Helsinki, to take place in 1983 and be held in the Helsinki Olympic Stadium (where the 1952 Summer Olympics had been held). Two IAAF world championship events preceded the inaugural edition of the World Championships in Athletics in 1983. The 1976 World Championships had just one
German Athletics Championships established in the previous decade. Women's events were first held at the German national championships in 1920. The men's and women's championships were held at separate locations between 1925 and 1933. The competition has been held annually since its creation, with the exceptions of 1914 (year of the outbreak of World War I) and 1944–1945 (the final years of World War II). German Athletics Championships The German Athletics Championships () are the national championships in athletics of Germany, organised annually by the Deutscher Leichtathletik-Verband. The competition features track and field events. Separate championships are held for non-track events, including the