1969 European Athletics Championships
The 1969 European Athletics Championships were the ninth European Athletics Championships which were held from 16–21 September 1969 at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus, Greece.Contemporaneous reports on the event were given in the Glasgow Herald.[clarification needed][1][2][3][4][5][6][7] Former East German runner Jürgen May, who had defected, was not allowed to compete for his new country, West Germany, due to IAAF rules requiring him to live there for at least three years; he had competed for East Germany in the 1966 championships.[2] West German officials promptly withdrew their athletes from all individual events in protest, but decided to compete in the relay races as a symbolic gesture to show their respect for the Greek organisers.[3] The Dutch decathlete Edward de Noorlander was disqualified for the use of amphetamine, the first disqualification for doping in athletics.