[1] The main venue was Niedersachsenstadion (English: Lower Saxony Stadium), which featured a new Olympic-style electronic scoreboard.

[4]: 1 The governing body of this series is World Association of Veteran Athletes (WAVA).

In 1976, the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) had expelled the Amateur Athletic Union of South Africa due to the apartheid policy of the South African government at that time, [9] though the WAVA constitution was written in 1977 to be independent of IAAF, [10]: 167 [11] stating that no competitor be barred because of race, religion, ethnic background, or national origin.Citing the fact that South Africa had been excluded from the Summer Olympic Games since 1968, DLV meet organizers initially planned to ban South African athletes.

After much discussion, a compromise was reached to allow  South Africa athletes to compete under the flag of Rhodesia ( RHO).

[5] Rare photographs of the blind sprinter Fritz Assmy in competition were included in newspaper clippings from the Museum of Masters Track & Field pdf book, guided by his son-in-law Klaus Hinrichsen in lane 8.