In the case of Moscow, Deputy Mayor Valery Vinogradov announced on 13 March 2006 that the city would bid for the 2011 Championships and suggested Luzhniki Stadium as venue.

[20] Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce became the first woman in World Championships history to sweep the sprint events when anchored Jamaica to gold in the 4×100-metre relay.

[16] In the 4×400 m relay, although the United States suffered a time-wasting exchange on the final leg, the Americans won by more than two seconds over Great Britain and France.

[34] The IAAF deputy secretary general, Nick Davies, stated that the international nature of the competition might alter the country's perspective, but that the matter of gay rights would not be addressed by the championships, as long as its athletes were unaffected.

American runner Nick Symmonds, a supporter of the NOH8 Campaign for equal rights, said he would respect the host nation and its laws and would focus on sporting competition only in Moscow.

[38] Two Swedish athletes, high jumper Emma Green Tregaro and sprinter Moa Hjelmer, attracted attention when they painted their nails in a rainbow pattern in support of gay rights and displayed the colours during the qualifying rounds.

The Swedish officials stood by Green Tregaro, but she relented under the pressure – in the high jump finals, she sported all red nails as a symbol of love.

[19][41] While watching the high jump finals, Paavo Arhinmäki, the Finnish Minister for Culture and Sport, waved a rainbow flag at the arena.

[43] Russia's Yelena Isinbayeva was a popular winner in the women's pole vault, but later drew controversy for her remarks criticizing Green Tregaro's nails.

"[44] Following the negative reactions from other athletes and Western media she said that she had been misunderstood due to her grasp of English: "What I wanted to say was that people should respect the laws of other countries particularly when they are guests.

But let me make it clear I respect the views of my fellow athletes, and let me state in the strongest terms that I am opposed to any discrimination against gay people on the grounds of their sexuality (which is against the Olympic Charter).

"[45] During the medal ceremony for the women's 4 × 400 metres relay images of Kseniya Ryzhova and Yuliya Gushchina[n 2] sharing a kiss on the lips spread through social media and were interpreted as a protest against the anti-gay laws.

[46] Both Ryzhova and Gushchina denied any intention to make such a protest, rather they were simply happy with their athletic success, and stated that they were married to men.

This assisted the federation in detecting athlete's potential usage of banned substances, including steroids, human growth hormone, EPO and blood doping.

[54] A month before the competition it was reported that the head of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory, Grigory Rodchenkov, had been arrested on charges of drug distribution, but the case against him had been dropped.

Former Russian coach Oleg Popov and 400 metres runner Valentin Kruglyakov stated that athletes were ordered to dope and paid officials to conceal their positive tests.

[58] According to Sunday Times, Kamayev approached the news agency shortly before his death planning to publish a book on "the true story of sport pharmacology and doping in Russia since 1987".

[59] Outside of Russia, three of the world's top sprinters had positive tests during the buildup: Asafa Powell, Tyson Gay and Veronica Campbell Brown.

The fifth-place finisher in the men's javelin, Roman Avramenko of Ukraine, tested positive for 4-Chlorodehydromethyltestosterone (a steroid), as did Turkmenistan's Yelena Ryabova (a competitor in the women's 200 m).

Two athletes in the walking events, Ayman Kozhakhmetova and Ebrahim Rahimian, failed their tests for EPO, as did Guatemala's marathon runner Jeremias Saloj.

The 335-page report, compiled following a nearly yearlong investigation by a commission led by former anti-doping agency President Dick Pound, urged the International Association of Athletics Federations to suspend Russia from competition, including the Olympics in Brazil.

It recommended the anti-doping agency impose lifetime suspensions for 10 Russian coaches and athletes, including women's 800-meters gold medalist Mariya Savinova.

In June 2016, they reported that they were unable to fully carry out their work and noted intimidation by armed Federal Security Service (FSB) agents.

[63] After a Russian former lab director made allegations about the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, WADA commissioned an independent investigation led by Richard McLaren.

McLaren's investigation found corroborating evidence, concluding in a report published in July 2016 that the Ministry of Sport and the FSB had operated a "state-directed failsafe system" using a "disappearing positive [test] methodology" (DPM) from "at least late 2011 to August 2015".

[64] Orlando Ortega, a Cuban athlete who competes in the 110 metres hurdles deserted his national delegation during the championships and did not return to Cuba at its conclusion.