Athletics at the 1981 Summer Universiade
Track events
100 m	men	women
200 m	men	women
400 m	men	women
800 m	men	women
1500 m	men	women
3000 m		women
5000 m	men
10,000 m	men
100 m hurdles		women
110 m hurdles	men
400 m hurdles	men	women
3000 m steeplechase	men
4×100 m relay	men	women
4×400 m relay	men	women
Road events
Marathon	men
20 km walk	men
Field events
High jump	men	women
Pole vault	men
Long jump	men	women
Triple jump	men
Shot put	men	women
Discus throw	men	women
Hammer throw	men
Javelin throw	men	women
Combined events
Heptathlon		women
Decathlon	men
v t e

The women's 3000 metres event at the 1981 Summer Universiade was held at the Stadionul Naţional in Bucharest on 26 July 1981.^[1] It was the first time that this distance was contested at the Universiade after not being featured for two editions.

^[2][3]

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	Time	Notes
	Breda Pergar	Yugoslavia	8:53.78	UR
	Valentina Ilyinykh	Soviet Union	8:54.23
	Maria Radu	Romania	8:58.58
4	Ruth Smeeth	Great Britain	8:59.13
5	Julia Hansen	United States	9:08.22
6	Mercedes Calleja	Spain	9:14.71
7	Tatiana Conac	Romania	9:23.42
8	Fionnuala Morrish	Ireland	9:27.12
9	Tuija Toivonen	Finland	9:44.05
10	Susana Herrera	Mexico	10:00.46
11	Marleen Meuris	Belgium	10:36.49