The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics has opened in Daegu for a nine-day run.

President Lee Myung-bak declared open the championships during the opening ceremony held at 7 p.m. at the Daegu Stadium with the president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), Lamine Diack, in attendance.

Organizers of the global sporting event presented a 27-minute congratulatory show combining traditional Korean culture and information technology.

Under the theme of “dream, passion and challenge,” the world athletics championship will feature almost two-thousand best athletes from 202 countries around the world. They will compete in 47 events until September fourth.

Among them are Olympic gold medalist sprinter Usain Bolt, Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva and China’s 110 meter hurdler Liu Xiang.

South Korea is aiming to win medals in the men’s 20-kilometer race walk and men’s marathon events for the first time in history.

A celebration was held at Duryu Park on the eve of the world athletics championships on Friday night.