IAAF World Championships is a competitive sport event for the world's best athletes to prove who is the best in the world. The championships do not have as long a history as some other international competitions. Before IAAF World Championships, the only other event in which all of the top athletes of the world gathered was the Olympics. People wanted another proving grounds that would attract the participation of all of the world's top athletes―a competition to decide who wears the crown of "the best in the world." As the momentum gathered, in 1978 the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) held a Council Meeting in Puerto Rico, unanimously approving an Athletics World Championships. The IAAF decided to organize and hold the inaugural competition in Helsinki, Finland, in August 1983.

Early on, the championships were held every four years―in the year before the Olympic Games―but starting with the third championships held in Tokyo, Japan, it began to be held every two years―in the year before and after each Olympics. Here is a list of all of the past and upcoming championships

Athletes from more than 200 countries and regions will participate in IAAF World Championships Daegu 2011. This scale makes the championships one of the three largest sporting events in the world―next to the Olympic Games and the Soccer World Cup. A total of 24 world records were set at IAAF World Championships, and numerous famous competitive battles were fought and victories won, earning the championships the title of "the ultimate battleground of world athletics."