In 2011, the foremost athletics event was the 2011 World Championships in Athletics in Daegu. The other major global level competition held in 2011 was the World Cross Country Championships.
Australia's Sally Pearson was the women's IAAF Athlete of the Year.
The 2008 Olympic marathon champion Samuel Wanjiru died in May.
Valerie Adams
Videos
Dame Valerie Kasanita Adams is a retired New Zealand shot putter. She is a four-time World champion, four-time World Indoor champion, two-time Olympic, three-time Commonwealth Games champion and twice
Adams after her victory at the 2009 World Championships
Adams (right) in 2017, after her investiture as a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit by the Governor-General, Dame Patsy Reddy
Adams celebrated her first world title in 2007
Adams competing at the 2011 World Championships