50 free Javelin Throw trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Javelin throw trivia for track and field fans, throwers, and anyone who watched Neeraj Chopra or Arshad Nadeem and wanted to know more. The quiz opens in ancient Greece, where the javelin joined the Olympic pentathlon in 708 BC and was thrown with a leather strap for spin, then moves through the Swedish and Finnish pioneers, the two-handed and freestyle variants that briefly appeared at early Olympics, and Babe Didrikson's first women's title in 1932. The middle rounds cover the modern era: Bud Held's hollow javelin, Uwe Hohn's 'eternal' 104.80 m record, the 1986 redesign that moved the centre of gravity forward, the dimpled-tail javelins struck from the books in 1991, and Jan Železný's 98.48 m that has stood since 1996. Later questions take in Barbora Špotáková, Fatima Whitbread, Steve Backley, Andreas Thorkildsen, Julius 'Mr YouTube' Yego, Anderson Peters, and the rules on weight, length, runway and the 28.96-degree sector. Questions run from easy to expert and every answer was checked against a reference page and carries its source. See also our track and field and Olympics quizzes.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The javelin was added to the Ancient Olympic Games as part of the pentathlon in which year?
708 BC
There were two versions: one for distance and one for accuracy at a target.
Q 02Ancient Greek throwers used an 'amentum' (ankyle) to add spin to the javelin. What was it?
a leather strap wound round the shaft
As the strap unwound on release it gave the javelin axial spin, stabilising its flight like a rifle bullet.
Q 03Javelin great Eric Lemming, Olympic champion in 1908 and 1912, represented which country?
Sweden
His 62.32 m from 1912 was the first javelin world record officially ratified by the IAAF.
Q 04A 'both-hands' javelin contest, adding the best right- and left-handed throws together, was held at the Olympics only once. In which year?
1912
The last official both-hands world record was Yngve Häckner's 114.28 m total from 1917.
Q 05Which Hungarian became the first man to break the 60-metre barrier in 1911, using a freestyle end grip?
Mór Kóczán
Lemming and Saaristo did it with a regular grip a year later; the freestyle event was dropped after the 1908 Games.
Q 06Who became the first women's Olympic javelin champion when the event was added in 1932?
Babe Didrikson
The first women's marks had been recorded in Finland in 1909, and a lighter javelin for women arrived in the 1920s.
Q 07For decades javelins were solid wood with a steel tip. Which timber was typical?
birch
The hollow, aerodynamic Held javelin of the 1950s was also wooden at first before all-metal models took over.
Q 08The hollow, aerodynamic javelin of the 1950s was named after which American thrower who invented it?
Bud Held
His brother Dick developed and manufactured it; the new javelins flew further but landed flat far more often.
Q 09Who is the only athlete ever to throw a javelin 100 metres or more?
Uwe Hohn
His 104.80 m in East Berlin in July 1984 became an 'eternal world record' when the javelin was redesigned two years later.
Q 10Uwe Hohn's 1984 record shattered the previous mark of 99.72 m set the year before by which American?
Tom Petranoff
Hohn missed the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics because of the East German boycott and won the rival Friendship Games instead.
Q 11In the 1986 redesign, the men's javelin's centre of gravity was moved forward by how much?
4 cm
The tail surface was also enlarged, so the javelin noses into the wind and sticks in the ground rather than landing flat.
Q 12By roughly what percentage did the 1986 redesign reduce the javelin's flight distance?
10%
The change was as much about safety and clear landings as distance; 100-metre throws were outgrowing stadium infields.
Q 13Seppo Räty's 96.96 m from 1991 was struck from the records for what banned javelin feature?
a roughened or dimpled tail
Manufacturers had added holes, rough paint or dimples to recover lost distance; all such marks were nullified from 20 September 1991.
Q 21Which East German threw exactly 80.00 m in 1988, the old-model women's javelin record retired in 1999?
Petra Felke
The women's records were reset in April 1999, thirteen years after the men's.
Q 22Which Briton threw a world-record 77.44 m in qualifying at the 1986 European Championships?
Fatima Whitbread
She went on to win the 1987 world title and was BBC Sports Personality of the Year that year.
Q 23Steve Backley set his first world record, 89.58 m, in July 1990 in which city?
Stockholm
His 91.46 m from 1992 remains the British record.
Q 14What is the men's javelin world record, set by Jan Železný in 1996?
98.48 m
He also owns the fourth, fifth and sixth best throws of all time and broke the record four times.
Q 15How many Olympic gold medals did Jan Železný win?
Three
Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000, after a silver in Seoul in 1988.
Q 16Four days after his 1996 Olympic gold, Jan Železný had a tryout as a pitcher with which baseball team?
Atlanta Braves
The tryout took place at Fulton County Stadium in the host city of the Games.
Q 17How many times did Železný throw beyond 90 metres in a single 1997 meet at Stellenbosch?
Five
Until 2020 he was also the only man to pass 95 m with the new-model javelin, a feat he managed three times.
Q 18Who holds the women's world record of 72.28 m?
Barbora Špotáková
She threw it in the first round of the 2008 IAAF World Athletics Final, weeks after taking Olympic gold with her last throw in Beijing.
Q 19The women's javelin world record holder finished fourth at the 2000 World Juniors in which discipline?
heptathlon
She even set a Czech record in the women's decathlon in 2004 before her javelin career took off.
Q 20Which Cuban held the women's world record from 2001 to 2008?
Osleidys Menéndez
Her 71.70 m to win the 2005 world title in Helsinki still ranks second on the all-time list.
Q 24Which rival beat Steve Backley's Olympic record javelin throw of 89.95 m in round three of the Sydney 2000 final?
Jan Železný
The two-time champion answered with 90.17 m for his third straight Olympic title.
Q 25Which Norwegian won Olympic javelin gold in both 2004 and 2008?
Andreas Thorkildsen
He became the first male thrower to hold the European, World and Olympic titles at the same time.
Q 26At a 2007 meet in Rome, Tero Pitkämäki's wayward throw struck a French athlete competing in which event?
long jump
Salim Sdiri was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries; Pitkämäki won the world title in Osaka weeks later.
Q 27Kenya's Julius Yego, world champion in 2015, earned what nickname for the way he taught himself to throw?
Mr. YouTube
He studied videos of Železný and Thorkildsen online and became the first Kenyan to win a world title in a field event.
Q 28Neeraj Chopra's Tokyo 2020 gold made him India's second individual Olympic champion, after which shooter?
Abhinav Bindra
Chopra was also the first Asian athlete to win an Olympic javelin gold.
Q 29Neeraj Chopra was born in the Panipat district of which Indian state?
Haryana
He took up sport after being teased about his weight and joined a gym in Panipat as a boy.
Q 30Arshad Nadeem's Olympic record javelin throw at Paris 2024 won which country its first individual gold?
Pakistan
It was also the first Olympic athletics medal of any colour for his country.