Javelin throw at the Olympics

Javelin throw at the Olympic Games
The 1948 javelin throw competition, Tapio Rautavaara (FIN)
Overview
Sport	Athletics
Gender	Men and women
Years held	Men: 1908 – 2024 Women: 1932 – 2024
Olympic record
Men	92.97 m Arshad Nadeem (2024)
Women	71.53 m Osleidys Menéndez (2004)
Reigning champion
Men	Arshad Nadeem (PAK)
Women	Haruka Kitaguchi (JPN)

The javelin throw at the Summer Olympics is one of four track and field throwing events held at the multi-sport event. The men's javelin throw has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since 1908, being the last of the current throwing events to feature at the Olympics after the shot put, discus throw and hammer throw. The women's event was first contested at the 1932 Olympics, becoming the second women's throws event after the discus in 1928.

Two variants of the javelin have featured on the Olympic programme: a freestyle version was first contested at the 1906 Intercalated Games and then again the 1908 London Olympics. A one-off two-handed version was held at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics.

Medalists

Men

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1908 London	Eric Lemming  Sweden	Arne Halse  Norway	Otto Nilsson  Sweden
1912 Stockholm	Eric Lemming  Sweden	Julius Saaristo  Finland	Mór Kóczán  Hungary
1920 Antwerp	Jonni Myyrä  Finland	Urho Peltonen  Finland	Pekka Johansson  Finland
1924 Paris	Jonni Myyrä  Finland	Gunnar Lindström  Sweden	Eugene Oberst  United States
1928 Amsterdam	Erik Lundqvist  Sweden	Béla Szepes  Hungary	Olav Sunde  Norway
1932 Los Angeles	Matti Järvinen  Finland	Matti Sippala  Finland	Eino Penttilä  Finland
1936 Berlin	Gerhard Stöck  Germany	Yrjö Nikkanen  Finland	Kalervo Toivonen  Finland
1948 London	Tapio Rautavaara  Finland	Steve Seymour  United States	József Várszegi  Hungary
1952 Helsinki	Cy Young  United States	Bill Miller  United States	Toivo Hyytiäinen  Finland
1956 Melbourne	Egil Danielsen  Norway	Janusz Sidło  Poland	Viktor Tsybulenko  Soviet Union
1960 Rome	Viktor Tsybulenko  Soviet Union	Walter Krüger  United Team of Germany	Gergely Kulcsár  Hungary
1964 Tokyo	Pauli Nevala  Finland	Gergely Kulcsár  Hungary	Jānis Lūsis  Soviet Union
1968 Mexico City	Jānis Lūsis  Soviet Union	Jorma Kinnunen  Finland	Gergely Kulcsár  Hungary
1972 Munich	Klaus Wolfermann  West Germany	Jānis Lūsis  Soviet Union	Bill Schmidt  United States
1976 Montreal	Miklós Németh  Hungary	Hannu Siitonen  Finland	Gheorghe Megelea  Romania
1980 Moscow	Dainis Kūla  Soviet Union	Aleksandr Makarov  Soviet Union	Wolfgang Hanisch  East Germany
1984 Los Angeles	Arto Härkönen  Finland	David Ottley  Great Britain	Kenth Eldebrink  Sweden
1988 Seoul	Tapio Korjus  Finland	Jan Železný  Czechoslovakia	Seppo Räty  Finland
1992 Barcelona	Jan Železný  Czechoslovakia	Seppo Räty  Finland	Steve Backley  Great Britain
1996 Atlanta	Jan Železný  Czech Republic	Steve Backley  Great Britain	Seppo Räty  Finland
2000 Sydney	Jan Železný  Czech Republic	Steve Backley  Great Britain	Sergey Makarov  Russia
2004 Athens	Andreas Thorkildsen  Norway	Vadims Vasiļevskis  Latvia	Sergey Makarov  Russia
2008 Beijing	Andreas Thorkildsen  Norway	Ainārs Kovals  Latvia	Tero Pitkämäki  Finland
2012 London	Keshorn Walcott  Trinidad and Tobago	Antti Ruuskanen  Finland	Vítězslav Veselý  Czech Republic
2016 Rio de Janeiro	Thomas Röhler  Germany	Julius Yego  Kenya	Keshorn Walcott  Trinidad and Tobago
2020 Tokyo	Neeraj Chopra  India	Jakub Vadlejch  Czech Republic	Vítězslav Veselý  Czech Republic
2024 Paris	Arshad Nadeem  Pakistan	Neeraj Chopra  India	Anderson Peters  Grenada

Multiple medalists

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Olympics	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Jan Železný	Czechoslovakia (TCH)  Czech Republic (CZE)	1988–2000	3	1	0	4
2	Eric Lemming	Sweden (SWE)	1908–1912	2	0	0	2
	Jonni Myyrä	Finland (FIN)	1920–1924	2	0	0	2
	Andreas Thorkildsen	Norway (NOR)	2004–2008	2	0	0	2
5	Jānis Lūsis	Soviet Union (URS)	1964–1972	1	1	1	3
6	Neeraj Chopra	India (IND)	2020–2024	1	1	0	2
7	Viktor Tsybulenko	Soviet Union (URS)	1956–1960	1	0	1	2
	Keshorn Walcott	Trinidad and Tobago (TTO)	2012–2016	1	0	1	2
9	Steve Backley	Great Britain (GBR)	1992–2000	0	2	1	3
10	Gergely Kulcsar	Hungary (HUN)	1960–1968	0	1	2	3
	Seppo Räty	Finland (FIN)	1988–1996	0	1	2	3
12	Sergey Makarov	Russia (RUS)	2000–2004	0	0	2	2
13	Vítězslav Veselý	Czech Republic (CZE)	2012–2020	0	0	2	2

Medals by country

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Finland (FIN)	7	8	7	22
2	Soviet Union (URS)	3	2	2	7
3	Sweden (SWE)	3	1	2	6
4	Norway (NOR)	3	1	1	5
5	Czech Republic (CZE)	2	1	2	5
6	Germany (GER)	2	0	0	2
7	Hungary (HUN)	1	2	4	7
8	United States (USA)	1	2	2	5
9	Czechoslovakia (TCH)	1	1	0	2
	India (IND)	1	1	0	2
11	Trinidad and Tobago (TRI)	1	0	1	2
12	Pakistan (PAK)	1	0	0	1
	West Germany (FRG)	1	0	0	1
14	Great Britain (GBR)	0	3	1	4
15	Latvia (LAT)	0	2	0	2
16	Kenya (KEN)	0	1	0	1
	Poland (POL)	0	1	0	1
	United Team of Germany (EUA)	0	1	0	1
19	Russia (RUS)	0	0	2	2
20	East Germany (GDR)	0	0	1	1
	Grenada (GRN)	0	0	1	1
	Romania (ROU)	0	0	1	1
Totals (22 entries)		27	27	27	81

Women

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1932 Los Angeles	Babe Didrikson  United States	Ellen Braumüller  Germany	Tilly Fleischer  Germany
1936 Berlin	Tilly Fleischer  Germany	Luise Krüger  Germany	Maria Kwaśniewska  Poland
1948 London	Herma Bauma  Austria	Kaisa Parviainen  Finland	Lily Carlstedt  Denmark
1952 Helsinki	Dana Zátopková  Czechoslovakia	Aleksandra Chudina Soviet Union	Yelena Gorchakova Soviet Union
1956 Melbourne	Inese Jaunzeme  Soviet Union	Marlene Ahrens  Chile	Nadezhda Konyayeva  Soviet Union
1960 Rome	Elvīra Ozoliņa  Soviet Union	Dana Zátopková  Czechoslovakia	Birutė Kalėdienė  Soviet Union
1964 Tokyo	Mihaela Peneș  Romania	Márta Rudas  Hungary	Yelena Gorchakova  Soviet Union
1968 Mexico City	Angéla Németh  Hungary	Mihaela Peneș  Romania	Eva Janko  Austria
1972 Munich	Ruth Fuchs  East Germany	Jacqueline Todten  East Germany	Kate Schmidt  United States
1976 Montreal	Ruth Fuchs  East Germany	Marion Becker  West Germany	Kate Schmidt  United States
1980 Moscow	María Caridad Colón  Cuba	Saida Gunba  Soviet Union	Ute Hommola  East Germany
1984 Los Angeles	Tessa Sanderson  Great Britain	Tiina Lillak  Finland	Fatima Whitbread  Great Britain
1988 Seoul	Petra Felke  East Germany	Fatima Whitbread  Great Britain	Beate Koch  East Germany
1992 Barcelona	Silke Renk  Germany	Natalya Shikolenko  Unified Team	Karen Forkel  Germany
1996 Atlanta	Heli Rantanen  Finland	Louise McPaul  Australia	Trine Hattestad  Norway
2000 Sydney	Trine Hattestad  Norway	Mirela Maniani-Tzelili  Greece	Osleidys Menéndez  Cuba
2004 Athens	Osleidys Menéndez  Cuba	Steffi Nerius  Germany	Mirela Maniani  Greece
2008 Beijing	Barbora Špotáková  Czech Republic	Christina Obergföll  Germany	Goldie Sayers  Great Britain
2012 London	Barbora Špotáková  Czech Republic	Christina Obergföll  Germany	Linda Stahl  Germany
2016 Rio de Janeiro	Sara Kolak  Croatia	Sunette Viljoen  South Africa	Barbora Špotáková  Czech Republic
2020 Tokyo	Liu Shiying  China	Maria Andrejczyk  Poland	Kelsey-Lee Barber  Australia
2024 Paris	Haruka Kitaguchi  Japan	Jo-Ane van Dyk  South Africa	Nikola Ogrodníková  Czech Republic

Multiple medalists

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Olympics	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Barbora Špotáková	Czech Republic (CZE)	2008–2016	2	0	1	3
2	Ruth Fuchs	East Germany (GDR)	1972–1976	2	0	0	2
3	Dana Zátopková	Czechoslovakia (TCH)	1952–1960	1	1	0	2
	Mihaela Peneş	Romania (ROU)	1964–1968	1	1	0	2
5	Tilly Fleischer	Germany (GER)	1932–1936	1	0	1	2
	Trine Hattestad	Norway (NOR)	1996–2000	1	0	1	2
	Osleidys Menéndez	Cuba (CUB)	2000–2004	1	0	1	2
8	Fatima Whitbread	Great Britain (GBR)	1984–1988	0	1	1	2
	Mirela Maniani	Greece (GRE)	2000–2004	0	1	1	2
	Christina Obergföll	Germany (GER)	2008–2012	0	1	1	2
11	Yelena Gorchakova	Soviet Union (URS)	1952–1964	0	0	2	2
	Kate Schmidt	United States (USA)	1972–1976	0	0	2	2

Medals by country

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	East Germany (GDR)	3	1	2	6
2	Germany (GER)	2	4	4	10
3	Soviet Union (URS)	2	2	4	8
4	Cuba (CUB)	2	0	1	3
	Czech Republic (CZE)	2	0	1	3
6	Finland (FIN)	1	2	0	3
7	Great Britain (GBR)	1	1	2	4
8	Czechoslovakia (TCH)	1	1	0	2
	Hungary (HUN)	1	1	0	2
	Romania (ROU)	1	1	0	2
11	United States (USA)	1	0	2	3
12	Austria (AUT)	1	0	1	2
	Norway (NOR)	1	0	1	2
14	China (CHN)	1	0	0	1
	Croatia (CRO)	1	0	0	1
16	Greece (GRE)	0	1	1	2
	Poland (POL)	0	1	1	2
18	Australia (AUS)	0	1	0	1
	Chile (CHI)	0	1	0	1
	Russia (RUS)	0	1	0	1
	South Africa (RSA)	0	1	0	1
	Unified Team (EUN)	0	1	0	1
	West Germany (FRG)	0	1	0	1
24	Denmark (DEN)	0	0	1	1
Totals (24 entries)		21	21	21	63

Intercalated Games

The 1906 Intercalated Games were held in Athens and at the time were officially recognised as part of the Olympic Games series, with the intention being to hold a games in Greece in two-year intervals between the internationally held Olympics. However, this plan never came to fruition and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) later decided not to recognise these games as part of the official Olympic series. Some sports historians continue to treat the results of these games as part of the Olympic canon.

A men's freestyle javelin event was contested at the 1906 Games – the first time the javelin featured on the Olympic programme. The competition was dominated by Swedish athletes, who took the first four places. Eric Lemming was a comfortable winner by a margin of over eight metres and he would go on to win the first two Olympic titles proper in 1908 and 1912. A 100 metres finalist, Knut Lindberg, was the silver medallist, while the third placer, Bruno Söderström, also won a pole vault medal that year.

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1906 Athens	Eric Lemming (SWE)	Knut Lindberg (SWE)	Bruno Söderström (SWE)

Variants

1908 freestyle javelin throw

Following the freestyle javelin contest at the 1906 Intercalated Games, the event was continued at the 1908 London Olympics in spite of the addition of the standard style javelin as well. Eric Lemming won his second freestyle title, and his first officially recognised Olympics gold, and also won the standard style event as well. The freestyle event was dropped after 1908.

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1908 London	Eric Lemming (SWE)	Mikhail Dorizas (GRE)	Arne Halse (NOR)

Two-handed javelin throw

At the 1912 Stockholm Olympics a two-handed variant of the standard javelin throw competition took place. Each athlete had three attempts using each hand and their score was calculated by adding their best performances for the left and right hands. It featured two rounds, with the top three after the first round receiving a further three attempts with each arm.

Finnish athletes completed a podium sweep as Julius Saaristo, the runner-up in the 1912 standard javelin event, took the gold medal. Eric Lemming, champion in the one-handed event, performed poorly with his left hand and finished in fourth place.

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1912 Stockholm	Julius Saaristo (FIN)	Väinö Siikaniemi (FIN)	Urho Peltonen (FIN)

References

Participation and athlete data

• Athletics Men's Javelin Throw Medalists. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-04-18.
• Athletics Women's Javelin Throw Medalists. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-04-18.

Olympic record progressions

• Mallon, Bill (2012). TRACK & FIELD ATHLETICS - OLYMPIC RECORD PROGRESSIONS. Track and Field News. Retrieved on 2014-03-12.

Specific

External links

• IAAF javelin throw homepage
• Official Olympics website
• Olympic athletics records from Track & Field News