50 Fun Facts About Javelin Throw

Which other throwing event shared the ancient Olympic pentathlon with the javelin?

The discus. Both arrived in 708 BC with the pentathlon, whose athletes Aristotle thought the most beautiful of all, because their bodies were built for strength and speed alike.

What was the 'amentum' that ancient Greek athletes used when throwing the javelin?

A leather strap, looped round the shaft and over two fingers. It slipped off as the javelin left the hand, and the extra leverage and spin sent the throw farther and straighter.

Which great distance runner's wife, Dana, won Olympic javelin gold in 1952 on the day he won the 5,000 metres?

Emil Zátopek. He had already won the 10,000 m at those Games, then entered the first marathon of his life and won that too, a treble nobody has matched.

At the 1912 Olympics, a one-off javelin event added together two throws made how?

Left- and right-handed: each thrower's best mark with either hand was added together. Eric Lemming, who had just won the ordinary javelin, threw so poorly with his left that he finished only fourth.

Which Norse god owned Gungnir, the mythical spear that World Athletics links to the javelin's origins?

Odin. In the myths dwarf smiths forged Gungnir so well that it never missed, and Odin begins the first war among the gods by hurling a spear over the enemy host.

Who became the first women's Olympic javelin champion, in 1932?

Babe Didrikson. She won it with her very first throw, added the 80 m hurdles title and a high jump silver, then switched to golf and became the best woman player of her era.

What happened when Poland's Janusz Sidło, leading the 1956 Olympic final, lent a struggling rival his new javelin?

The rival won with it. Norway's Egil Danielsen had been throwing an old wooden javelin; with the borrowed one he threw a world record and took the gold, leaving Sidło the silver.

American thrower Bud Held changed the javelin in the 1950s by making it what?

Hollow. Held's design flew farther than the solid javelins it replaced, his brother Dick built them for the world's best throwers, and the hollow model was eventually outlawed.

As of 2026, who is the only athlete ever to have thrown a javelin 100 metres or more?

Uwe Hohn. His 104.80 m in 1984 became an 'eternal world record' two years later, when a redesigned javelin wiped the record books clean.

Why did the men's javelin world record holder miss the 1984 Olympics?

His country boycotted them. East Germany joined the Soviet-led stay-away, so the man who had just thrown 104.80 m competed at the rival Friendship Games instead, and won.

Which point of the men's javelin was moved 4 cm forward in 1986?

The centre of gravity. Shifting the balance point forward shortened every throw, and as of 2026 the best since is more than six metres short of the old 104.80 m record.

What did the men's javelin redesign of 1986 mainly aim to stop?

Flat landings. Javelins were skidding in on their bellies and judges faced constant protests over which throws should count, so the new design was built to come down nose first.

Seppo Räty's 96.96 m from 1991 was struck from the records for what banned javelin feature?

A roughened or dimpled tail. Makers had added holes, rough paint or dimples to win back distance lost in the 1986 redesign, and once such tails were banned every mark set with them was wiped.

As of 2026, which German has come closest to Jan Železný's javelin world record?

Johannes Vetter. His 97.76 m in 2020 fell just 72 cm short of the 98.48 m record, yet the Olympics never went his way: fourth in 2016, then ninth in Tokyo as the favourite.

Jan Železný won his first Olympic javelin medals, in 1988 and 1992, for which now-vanished country?

Czechoslovakia. He took silver and then gold under its flag, and after the country split he won twice more for the Czech Republic, making three Olympic titles in a row.

Days after winning an Olympic javelin title, Jan Železný had a tryout as a pitcher with which baseball team?

The Atlanta Braves. The tryout was held at their Fulton County Stadium, in the city where he had just won his Olympic title.

Which future Super Bowl-winning quarterback set a US high school javelin record in 1966?

Terry Bradshaw. His throw of nearly 245 feet for a Louisiana high school got him into Sports Illustrated's 'Faces in the Crowd', his first taste of national attention, years before the Steelers.

As of 2026, who holds the women's javelin world record of 72.28 m?

Barbora Špotáková. She threw it in September 2008, three weeks after snatching the Olympic title in Beijing with her very last throw.

The women's javelin world record holder finished fourth at the 2000 World Juniors in which discipline?

Heptathlon. She began as a multi-eventer and as late as 2004 set a national record in the women's decathlon, before her javelin career took off.

Which Cuban held the women's javelin world record from 2001 to 2008?

Osleidys Menéndez. She won the 2004 Olympic title with a throw one centimetre short of her own record, then broke it a year later in winning the world title.

Which East German threw exactly 80.00 m in 1988, the old-model women's javelin record retired in 1999?

Petra Felke. No woman had reached 80 metres before her and none has since: the javelin was redesigned in 1999, and the best with the new model is nearly eight metres shorter.

Which Briton threw a world-record 77.44 m in qualifying at the 1986 European Championships?

Fatima Whitbread. Abandoned as a baby and raised in children's homes, she was later adopted by her javelin coach, Margaret Whitbread, whose name she took.

If two javelin throwers tie for the longest throw, what decides the winner?

Their next-best throws: each thrower's second-longest mark is compared, so one big throw with nothing behind it can lose a title.

Which Briton won javelin medals at three straight Olympics, from 1992 to 2000, but lost to Jan Železný each time?

Steve Backley. A three-time world record breaker and four-time European champion, he never won a global title: bronze in 1992, then silver in 1996 and 2000.

Who won Olympic javelin gold in both 2004 and 2008?

Andreas Thorkildsen. The Norwegian's first title came from nowhere: he had finished last and then eleventh at the two previous world championships, and won in Athens with a personal best.

At a 2007 meet in Rome, Tero Pitkämäki's wayward throw struck a French athlete competing in which event?

Long jump. The stray javelin hit Salim Sdiri in the back, damaging his liver and a kidney, yet seven months later he was back in competition.

Kenya's Julius Yego, world champion in 2015, earned what nickname for the way he taught himself to throw?

Mr. YouTube. Kenya had no javelin coach for him, so he copied the technique of champion throwers from online videos, and only later moved abroad to a specialist training centre.

Neeraj Chopra's Tokyo 2020 gold made him India's second individual Olympic champion, after which shooter?

Abhinav Bindra, who won the 10 m air rifle in Beijing in 2008. Chopra's turn came in Tokyo, where the German favourite for the javelin slumped to ninth.

Neeraj Chopra was born in the Panipat district of which Indian state?

Haryana. He took up sport as a heavy child after being teased about his weight, when his family sent him to a gym in nearby Panipat.

Arshad Nadeem's Olympic record javelin throw at Paris 2024 won which country its first individual gold?

Pakistan. Nadeem's 92.97 m beat the defending champion, India's Neeraj Chopra, into silver, and thousands turned out at the airport to welcome him home.

At which event did Arshad Nadeem become the first South Asian to throw beyond 90 metres?

The 2022 Commonwealth Games. Throwing despite an injury in Birmingham, he overhauled the reigning world champion with 90.18 m on his fifth attempt.

Anderson Peters, world champion in 2019 and 2022, represents which Caribbean nation?

Grenada. Peters was already world champion when he failed even to reach the Olympic final in Tokyo; three years later in Paris he finally won an Olympic medal, a bronze.

The height of which structure, 72.71 m, is said to match Matti Järvinen's gold-medal javelin throw of 1932?

The Helsinki Olympic Stadium tower. Järvinen won that title so comfortably that he never took off his tracksuit trousers, and the tower is said to have been built to his distance in tribute.

What did javelin champion Matti Järvinen teach Finnish soldiers to throw in 1939?

Hand grenades. When the Winter War broke out, the ten-time world record breaker served on the Karelian Isthmus front, where the army put his throwing arm to work training its troops.

Why is Finland's top-four Olympic javelin sweep of 1920 now impossible?

Three entrants each: a nation may now enter only three throwers. In 1920 even an Olympic champion of 1912, Julius Saaristo, was the Finn left in fourth.

About how much does a men's competition javelin weigh?

800 g. That is less than a litre of water weighs, yet the best throwers in the world send it more than 90 metres.

In the decathlon, which race follows the javelin throw as the tenth and final event?

The 1500 metres. The ancient pentathlon, the decathlon's ancestor, also had a javelin throw but ended with a wrestling match; the modern event finishes with nearly four laps of the track instead.

Which Briton won the 1984 Olympic javelin title, the first British woman to win an Olympic throwing event?

Tessa Sanderson. Born in Jamaica, she moved to the English Midlands as a child, failed even to reach the final in 1980, then beat the reigning world champion to the title four years later.

A javelin thrower must stay on the runway until what happens?

The javelin lands. A thrower who steps off the runway any sooner has the throw ruled out, however far it flew.

What may a javelin thrower never do during the run-up?

Spin right round. Unlike a hammer thrower, a javelin thrower who turns their back on the landing area before release has the throw ruled out.

Kelsey-Lee Barber, world javelin champion in 2019 and 2022, competes for which country?

Australia. Born abroad, she moved there with her family as a child in 2000 and went from school sports days to two world titles.

Jānis Lūsis won a full set of Olympic javelin medals for the Soviet Union, but which republic was his home?

Latvia. He married another Olympic javelin champion, Elvīra Ozoliņa, the 1960 winner, and their son went on to throw at two Olympic Games as well.

Michael Torke's orchestral piece 'Javelin' was commissioned in conjunction with which Olympic Games?

Atlanta 1996. The city's Olympic committee commissioned it to mark the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's 50th season, so the orchestra premiered it two years before the Games opened.

The men's javelin made its official Olympic debut in 1908 in which city?

London. The first champion, Eric Lemming, won two javelin events at those Games, one of them a 'freestyle' contest that was never held again, and kept his title in 1912.

Keshorn Walcott, Olympic javelin champion at 19 in 2012, comes from which Caribbean nation?

Trinidad and Tobago. Walcott had won the world junior title only a month before his Olympic gold, and thirteen years later, in 2025, he added his first senior world title.

What is the grip of a competition javelin made of?

Cord, wound tightly round the shaft in a band about 15 cm wide. The rules oblige throwers to hold the javelin there, which is why the old end-grip 'freestyle' throws disappeared.

From where is a javelin throw measured?

The throwing arc, the curved line the thrower must stay behind. Distance is taped back to its edge, so anyone who lets go a metre early simply gives that metre away.

In which country did throwing javelin-like poles for distance develop into the modern event in the 1870s?

Sweden. Germans revived pole-throwing at targets at about the same time, but it was the Swedish version, thrown for distance, that grew into the modern javelin.

Eric Lemming's 62.32 m throw of 1912 was the first javelin mark to be what?

Ratified as an official world record. Lemming had been setting unofficial world bests since 1899, when he was 19, and this last one became the first entry in the federation's books.

Tom Petranoff, the American who threw a javelin 99.72 m in 1983, later competed for which adopted country?

South Africa. He won two African titles for his new country, then returned to the United States late in his career and won a Pan American Games medal in American colours.