nbIgor Ter-Ovanesyan's championship record of 7.81 metres, set at the previous edition in 1958, was bettered by all the medalling athletes in 1962. Ter-Ovanesyan's winning jump of 8.19 metres was wind-assisted – although Finns Rainer Stenius and Pentti Eskola cleared 7.85 m, Ter-Ovanesyan's non-wind-assisted jump of 7.82 m in qualification round (13 September) and Ter-Ovanesyan's best non-wind-assisted jump of 7.87 m in final (14 September) were ratified as the new championship marks.[8]
nb2 The women's 100 metres silver medallist Jutta Heine bettered the championship record twice in qualifying, running 11.5, then 11.4 seconds. Both times were ratified as championship records. In the final Dorothy Hyman and Heine ran 11.3 but this was wind-assisted.[9]
According to an unofficial count, 668 athletes from 29 countries participated in the event, two athletes less than the official number of 670 as published.[10] There was a joint German team comprising athletes from both East and West Germany. Assignment to their respective country was accomplished using the database of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Leichtathletik-Dokumentation 1990 e.V.[11]