1982 in the sport of athletics

This article contains an overview of the year 1982 in athletics.

• African Championships
• Asian Games
• Central American and Caribbean Championships
• Commonwealth Games
• European Championships
• European Indoor Championships
• World Cross Country Championships

• Marlies Göhr (GDR) equals her own world record in the women's 100 metres, clocking 10.88 seconds on 1982-07-06 at a meet in Karl-Marx-Stadt.

• January 2 – Athanasia Tsoumeleka, Greek race walker
• January 3 – Eşref Apak, Turkish hammer thrower
• January 5 – Vadims Vasiļevskis, Latvian athlete
• January 12 – Dimitrios Tsiamis, Greek triple jumper
• January 24 – Hamdi Dhouibi, Tunisian decathlete

• February 2 – Dorcus Inzikuru, Ugandan athlete
• February 7 – Rumyana Karapetrova, Bulgarian javelin thrower
• February 8 – Iryna Shtanhyeyeva, Ukrainian sprinter
• February 9 – Zersenay Tadese, Eritrean athlete
• February 10 – Justin Gatlin, American athlete
• February 18 – Krisztián Pars, Hungarian hammer thrower

• March 1 – Leryn Franco, Paraguayan javelin thrower
• March 14 – Yuleidis Limonta, Cuban heptathlete
• March 16 – Inga Kožarenoka, Latvian javelin thrower
• March 25 – Kayoko Fukushi, Japanese long-distance runner
• March 31 – Janice Josephs, South African heptathlete

• April 15 – Jean-Jacques Nkouloukidi, Italian race walker
• April 20 – Arnoud Okken, Dutch middle-distance runner
• April 20 – Dennis Leyckes, German decathlete
• April 25 – Victoria Mitchell, Australian long-distance runner

• May 6 – Dilshod Nazarov, Tajikistani hammer thrower
• May 10 – Yochai Halevi, Israeli long jumper and triple jumper
• May 12 – Marvin Anderson, Jamaican sprinter
• May 15 – Veronica Campbell-Brown, Jamaican athlete
• May 20 – Mihail Stamatoyiannis, Greek shot putter
• May 25 – Ezekiel Kemboi, Kenyan athlete
• May 30 – Phaustin Baha Sulle, Tanzanian long-distance runner

• June 3 – Yelena Isinbayeva, Russian pole vaulter
• June 5 – Fabiano Peçanha, Brazilian middle-distance runner
• June 11 – Vanessa Boslak, French pole vaulter
• June 13 – Kenenisa Bekele, Ethiopian distance runner
• June 25 – Esther Dankwah, Ghanaian sprinter

• July 8 – Park Chil-Sung, South Korean race walker
• July 14 – Vyacheslav Muravyev, Kazakhstani sprinter
• July 23 – Thaimara Rivas, Venezuelan heptathlete

• August 5 – Jo Ankier, British long-distance runner
• August 9 – Robert Häggblom, Finnish shot putter
• August 9 – Byron Piedra, Ecuadorian distance runner
• August 31 – Lien Huyghebaert, Belgian athlete

• September 11 – Elvan Abeylegesse, Ethiopian-born Turkish track and field athlete
• September 15 – Matthew Boyles, American race walker
• September 29 – Salome Chepchumba, Kenyan middle-distance runner

• October 25 – Aarik Wilson, American long jumper and triple jumper

• November 4 – Kamila Skolimowska, Polish hammer thrower (d. 2009)
• November 6 – Loree Smith, American hammer thrower
• November 9 – Eloise Wellings, Australian long-distance runner
• November 11 – Ivan Babaryka, Ukrainian long-distance runner
• November 11 – Asafa Powell, Jamaican sprinter
• November 29 – Andrei Chubsa, Belarusian high jumper

• December 2 – Morten Jensen, Danish long jumper
• December 11 – Darren Gilford, Maltese athlete
• December 25 – Samson Ramadhani, Tanzanian long-distance runner

• April 26 – Ville Ritola (86), Finnish Olympic gold medal runner (b. 1896)
• June 25 – Ed Hamm (76), American athlete (b. 1906)
• June 28 – Wiesław Maniak (41), Polish sprinter (b. 1938)
• August 4 – Henk van der Wal (95), Dutch track and field athlete (b. 1886)

• Year Lists
• Association of Road Racing Statisticians
• Year Rankings