Items such as shoes, medals and awards have been donated by athletes to the MOWA's exhibition at the Etele Plaza in Budapest, which opened in April and has welcomed more than 34,000 visitors.

Gifts were presented to athletes by World Athletics President Sebastian Coe to thank them for their contributions.

Anjelina Nadai Lohalith was first to be recognised at the ceremony.

The South Sudan-born athlete became the first member of World Athletics Athlete Refugee Team to win an international competition at the European Champion Clubs Cup Cross Country in February, and is set to compete in the women's 5,000 metres in Budapest.

Lohalith donated the singlet she wore at the event in Spain to the MOWA.

Coe awarded the World Athletics heritage plaque to Hungarian Athletics Association President Miklos Gyulai in tribute to the work of his late father István Gyulai, the former secretary general of the governing body, and Bojidar Spiriev who is credited with creating the international scoring tables.

Heritage trophies were presented to donors who won golds at the European Championships in Budapest in 1998 - British javelin thrower Steve Backley and 110 metres hurdler Colin Jackson, Italian marathon runner Stefano Baldini and Polish 50 kilometres race walker Robert Korzeniowski.

The exhibition was also attended by World Athletics Council members Dame Valerie Adams of New Zealand, a four-time shot put world champion, Willie Banks of the United States, a former men's triple jump world record holder, and Nawal El Moutawakel of Morocco, an International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board member who won women's 400m hurdles gold at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympics.

"Happy to be here and attend such a wonderful ceremony gathering all these legends that come from all over the world, showing their support to our sport," El Moutawakel told insidethegames.

"When you see Dame Valerie and this huge list of athletes who have marked the history of our sport, it is a real joy for all of us.

"To see Seb leading all this movement is fantastic."

Romania's former Olympic marathon champion Constantina Diță, two-time Olympic decathlon champion Daley Thompson of Britain and two-time women's high jump world champion Blanka Vlašić of Croatia were among the other legendary former athletes in attendance.

World Athletics President Coe, an IOC member and two-time 1500m Olympic champion with Britain, was also honoured at the ceremony and underlined the importance of the gathering, which followed on from one in Eugene alongside the World Championships last year attended by 15 athletes.

"I’m delighted to see so many people," he said.

"My goodness, I thought we had a good start in Eugene, but this is really star-studded, and a great opportunity to meet some new faces and some old faces.

"The celebration of champions is not simply a way of congratulating and celebrating your enormous, extraordinary, unique contributions to history.

"The reason we want to celebrate here today is just a simple thank you because this collection would not look like it does today had it not been for the generosity of all of you.

"That’s really just huge, massive generosity.

"What you see here today is obviously materially in front of you.

"What I hope most of you have also seen is the online museum, which I know we can say with great pride, was the first online museum ever in the world of sport.

"We know we have some really solid benefactors; Roberto Gesto de Melo, a former World Athletics Council member, has been incredibly generous.

"We know that without you there would be no museum."