2005 IAAF World Championships
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| Host city | Helsinki, Finland | ||
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| Nations participating | 196 | ||
| Athletes participating | 1,891 | ||
| Events | 47 | ||
| Dates | 6–14 August 2005 | ||
| Main venue | Helsinki Olympic Stadium | ||
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The 10th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland (6 August 2005 – 14 August 2005), the site of the first IAAF World Championships in 1983. One theme of the 2005 championships was paralympic events, some of which were included as exhibition events. Much of the event was played in extremely heavy rainfall.
The original winning bid for the competition was for London but the cost to build the required stadium at Picketts Lock and host the event was deemed too expensive by the government. UK Athletics suggested to move the host city to Sheffield (using Don Valley Stadium), but the IAAF stated that having London as the host city was central to their winning the bid. The championships bidding process was reopened as a result. The United Kingdom's withdrawal as host was the first case for a major sporting event in a developed country since Denver's withdrawal as host of the 1976 Winter Olympics.
Helsinki was considered by many to be the outsider in the race to host the games with rival bids being presented by Berlin in Germany; Brussels in Belgium, Budapest in Hungary, Moscow in Russia and Rome in Italy.
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