Lewis is a central figure in the history of the championships

Lewis, who had won triple sprint golds in 1983 and 1987, broke Bob Beamon's 23-year-old record of 8.90 metres but his jump of 8.91 was deemed illegal for record purposes as the wind exceeded the legal limit.

When it dropped Powell lifted the roof with a jump of 8.95m, a new world record and a gold medal against a man who had not lost in the event for a decade.

Following the success of the first three championships the IAAF changed the format and made it a biennial event.

The drama remained the same.

In Stuttgart the women's 100 metres final was the highlight with Gail Devers and Merlene Ottey its central figures.

Devers looked to be running imperiously to gold but in the final five metres her Jamaican opponent surged for the line.

After a long delay both sprinters were given the same time of 10.82 seconds but the American was given gold in a photo-finish.

That year Colin Jackson gave British supporters cause to celebrate with a world record in the 110 metres hurdles and two years later Jonathan Edwards followed suit.

Johnson has won a record nine championship golds

Edwards became the first man to leap through the 18-metre mark in the first round of the triple jump before extending his record to 18.29m in the second.

The leaps meant that the Briton became the first man to set consecutive triple jump records.

One of the features of the first championships in Finland was the sprinting prowess of Lewis and Marita Koch who also won a golden sprint triple.

In Athens in 1997 the championship was once again the domain of the sprinters.

Sergei Bubka may have taken his sixth consecutive world championship gold in the pole vault but it was Maurice Greene and Marion Jones who took the headlines.

And in 1999 the pair returned to successfully defend their titles in fine style.

Jones won with the fastest time of the year and Greene emulated Lewis by winning back-to-back titles and a triple sprint gold.

Michael Johnson went one step further and eclipsed the eight golds that Lewis won by winning a ninth championship gold.

Stacy Dragila tied the world record in the women's pole vault, Abel Anton delighted the home crowd when he became the oldest ever champion with victory in the marathon and Haile Gerbselassie won his fourth championship gold in the 10,000 metres.

All-in-all there were 13 championship bests at Seville in 1999.

This year Edmonton has, indeed, got a lot to live up to.