[2][3] The process to found World Athletics began in Stockholm, Sweden, on 18 July 1912 soon after the completion of the 1912 Summer Olympics in that city.

In 1926, the IAAF created a commission to regulate all ball games that were played by hand, including basketball and handball.

Beginning in 1982, the IAAF passed several amendments to its rules to allow athletes to receive compensation for participating in international competitions.

[7] Following repeated requests, World Athletics became the last body within the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations to make public its financial reports in 2020.

It also showed heavy dependence on its partnership with Japanese marketing agency Dentsu, which made up half of 2018's revenue.

It also highlighted reserves of US$45 million at the end of 2018, which would allow the organisation to remain solvent in the face of delays to the 2020 Summer Olympics due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

[15] The World Athletics Council appoints a chief executive officer (CEO), who is focused on improving the coverage of the sport and the organisation's commercial interests.

[16] Olivier Gers was the first person to officially hold the position in 2016, succeeding the interim CEO/General Secretary Jean Gracia.

The department also issues World Athletics Heritage Plaques to commemorate locations of historic interest to the sport.

[30] To address the problem, athletes participating in sports are required to sign the World Anti-Doping Agency code and are subjected to random urine or blood samples testing, leading to penalties like game suspension, or lifetime ban for violating code.

The differences of sex development (DSD) regulations apply to athletes who are legally female or intersex and have certain physiology.

In May 2019, CAS upheld the rules on the basis that discrimination against the minority of DSD athletes was proportional as a method of preserving access to the female category to a much larger majority of women without DSDs.

[33] In 2023, World Athletics tightened their regulations further, excluding transgender women who have gone through male puberty from competing in the female category.

World Athletics president Sebastian Coe described this as "decisive action to protect the female category in our sport".

Three years later in 1985, an annual track and field circuit was created in the form of the IAAF Grand Prix, which linked existing top-level one-day meetings with a season-ending IAAF Grand Prix Final for a selection of men's and women's events.

[48] The Race Walking Challenge Final was removed from the racewalking schedule after 2012, as the series focused on international championship performances.

The plaque is a location-based recognition that can be awarded in five different and broad overlapping categories: city, competition, legend, landmark, culture.

[57] After reviewing the results, Robin Parisotto, a scientist and leading "anti-doping" expert, said, "Never have I seen such an alarmingly abnormal set of blood values.

"[57] Craig Reedie, president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), said his organisation was "very disturbed by these new allegations ... which will, once again, shake the foundation of clean athletes worldwide", and that its "independent commission will investigate the claims".

[58] On 1 November 2015, former World Athletics president Lamine Diack was arrested in France and is under investigation on suspicion of corruption and money laundering.

[66] The report continued that "the World Athletics allowed the conduct to occur and must accept its responsibility" and that "corruption was embedded" in the organization.

[69] In June 2016, following a meeting of the IAAF's ruling council, World Athletics upheld its ban on Russia's track and field team from entering the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

World Athletics has since resisted demands that Russia be re-instated, on the basis that the country repeatedly failed to satisfy all the agreed criteria.

The decision was supported by Sean Ingle of The Guardian who wrote in a column that World Athletics should maintain their ban on Russia through the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

In September 2018, World Athletics faced a legal challenge by Russia to overturn the suspension after the reinstatement of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency, but Hugo Lowell of the i newspaper reported the country's status would not change.