1982 IAAF World Cross Country Championships
Organisers	IAAF
Edition	10th
Date	March 21
Host city	Rome, Italy
Venue	Ippodromo delle Capannelle
Events	3
Distances	11.978 km – Senior men 7.926 km – Junior men 4.663 km – Senior women
Participation	382 athletes from 33 nations
← 1981 Madrid 1983 Gateshead →

The 1982 IAAF World Cross Country Championships was held in Rome, Italy, at the Ippodromo delle Capannelle on March 21, 1982. A report on the event was given in the Glasgow Herald.^[1]

Complete results for men,^[2] junior men,^[3] women,^[4] medallists, ^[5] and the results of British athletes^[6] were published. In the senior men's competition, two-time defending champion Craig Virgin had traveled to Rome to defend his title, but was unable to race. On the day before the contest, was sent to the hospital by ambulance, where he was hospitalized for six days with a swollen kidney and a massive urinary tract infection. Doctors ultimately decided against removal of Virgin's right kidney, although the kidney was later removed in 1994.

Medallists

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
Individual
Senior men (11.978 km)	Mohammed Kedir  Ethiopia	33:40.5	Alberto Salazar  United States	33:44.8	Rod Dixon  New Zealand	34:01.8
Junior men (7.926 km)	Zurbachev Gelaw  Ethiopia	22:45.3	Adugna Lema  Ethiopia	22:46.6	Stefano Mei  Italy	22:48.7
Senior women (4.663 km)	Maricica Puică  Romania	14:38.9	Fiţa Lovin  Romania	14:40.5	Grete Waitz  Norway	14:43.9
Team
Senior men	Ethiopia	98	England	114	Soviet Union	257
Junior men	Ethiopia	12	Italy	37	United States	70
Senior women	Soviet Union	44	Italy	57	England	67

Race results

Senior men's race (11.978 km)

Individual race

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time
	Mohammed Kedir	Ethiopia	33:40.5
	Alberto Salazar	United States	33:44.8
	Rod Dixon	New Zealand	34:01.8
4	Hansjörg Kunze	East Germany	34:03
5	Mike McLeod	England	34:06.4
6	Eshetu Tura	Ethiopia	34:07.7
7	Alberto Cova	Italy	34:12.8
8	Werner Schildhauer	East Germany	34:17.1
9	Dave Clarke	England	34:19.4
10	Rob de Castella	Australia	34:20.5
11	Hugh Jones	England	34:21
12	Wodajo Bulti	Ethiopia	34:28.5
Full results

Teams

Rank	Team	Points
	Ethiopia Mohammed Kedir 1 Eshetu Tura 6 Wodajo Bulti 12 Miruts Yifter 16 Hana Girma 28 Dereje Nedi 35 (Girma Berhanu) (66) (Megersa Tulu) (137)	98
	England Mike McLeod 5 Dave Clarke 9 Hugh Jones 11 Julian Goater 18 Steve Kenyon 22 Karl Harrison 49 (Barry Knight) (65) (Kevin Forster) (67) (Peter Standing) (124)	114
	Soviet Union Aleksandr Antipov 19 Valeriy Sapon 24 Enn Sellik 45 Viktor Chumakov 46 Yevgeniy Okorokov 52 Toomas Turb 71 (Sergey Navolokin) (83) (Igor Yefimov) (114)	257
4	Kenya	271
5	Spain	280
6	United States	300
7	Portugal	328
8	West Germany	330
Full results

• Note: Athletes in parentheses did not score for the team result

Junior men's race (7.926 km)

Individual race

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time
	Zurbachev Gelaw	Ethiopia	22:45.3
	Adugna Lema	Ethiopia	22:46.6
	Stefano Mei	Italy	22:48.7
4	Hunde Kume	Ethiopia	22:50.5
5	Teka Mekonnen	Ethiopia	22:56.2
6	Francesco Panetta	Italy	23:08.4
7	Salvatore Nicosia	Italy	23:09.2
8	Jonathan Richards	England	23:11.4
9	Gonfa Negere	Ethiopia	23:14.3
10	Bekele Debele	Ethiopia	23:19.7
11	John Easker	United States	23:25
12	Francisco Espejo	Spain	23:29.7
Full results

Teams

Rank	Team	Points
	Ethiopia Zurbachev Gelaw 1 Adugna Lema 2 Hunde Kume 4 Teka Mekonnen 5 (Gonfa Negere) (9) (Bekele Debele) (10)	12
	Italy Stefano Mei 3 Francesco Panetta 6 Salvatore Nicosia 7 Ranieri Carenza 21 (Sergio Bruni) (39) (Marco Gozzano) (58)	37
	United States John Easker 11 Tom Ansberry 14 George Nicholas 22 Joe Stinzi 23 (Jonathan Knight) (46) (Mike Kubitschek) (56)	70
4	Spain	72
5	Canada	95
6	England	100
7	Morocco	138
8	Soviet Union	146
Full results

• Note: Athletes in parentheses did not score for the team result

Senior women's race (4.663 km)

Individual race

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time
	Maricica Puică	Romania	14:38.9
	Fiţa Lovin	Romania	14:40.5
	Grete Waitz	Norway	14:43.9
4	Agnese Possamai	Italy	14:46.9
5	Dianne Rodger	New Zealand	14:49.2
6	Ingrid Kristiansen	Norway	14:50.9
7	Yelena Sipatova	Soviet Union	14:51.9
8	Raisa Smekhnova	Soviet Union	14:55.5
9	Nadia Dandolo	Italy	14:57.9
10	Jan Merrill	United States	14:59.5
11	Tatyana Pozdnyakova	Soviet Union	15:00.1
12	Kate Wiley	Canada	15:01
Full results

Teams

Rank	Team	Points
	Soviet Union Yelena Sipatova 7 Raisa Smekhnova 8 Tatyana Pozdnyakova 11 Galina Zakharova 18 (Alla Yushina) (29)	44
	Italy Agnese Possamai 4 Nadia Dandolo 9 Cristina Tomasini 19 Rita Marchisio 25 (Margherita Gargano) (35) (Gabriella Dorio) ((DNF))	57
	England Ann Ford 13 Paula Fudge 14 Jane Furniss 16 Ruth Smeeth 24 (Christina Boxer) (41) (Sandra Arthurton) (48)	67
4	United States	70
5	Canada	104
6	Norway	126
7	Spain	132
8	France	158
Full results

• Note: Athletes in parentheses did not score for the team result

Medal table (unofficial)

  *   Host nation (Italy)

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Ethiopia (ETH)	4	1	0	5
2	Romania (ROU)	1	1	0	2
3	Soviet Union (URS)	1	0	1	2
4	Italy (ITA)*	0	2	1	3
5	England (ENG)	0	1	1	2
	United States (USA)	0	1	1	2
7	New Zealand (NZL)	0	0	1	1
	Norway (NOR)	0	0	1	1
Totals (8 entries)		6	6	6	18

• Note: Totals include both individual and team medals, with medals in the team competition counting as one medal.

Participation

An unofficial count yields the participation of 382 athletes from 33 countries. This is in agreement with the official numbers as published.^[6]