The 2nd World Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations were held in the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy between August 28 and September 6, 1987.

1983 | 1987 | 1991 | 1993 | 1995 1 Ben Johnson of Canada originally won the gold medal in 9.83, but he was disqualified in September 1989 after he admitted to using steroids between 1981 and 1988.

1983 | 1987 | 1991 | 1993 | 1995 1 Giovanni Evangelisti of Italy originally won the bronze medal with 8.37 m, but it was later determined that Italian field officials had entered a pre-arranged fake result for a jump of 7.85 m.[1] While Evangelisti had no involvement in or knowledge of the fraud, Italian head coach Sandro Donati, who revealed it, was fired.

1983 | 1987 | 1991 | 1993 | 1995 Two exhibition para-athletics events appeared at the competition, but results did not go towards the overall medal count.

Wheelchair exhibition events were contested until that year, bar 1999 and 2009.