Position	Athlete	Country	Mark	.
1	Barbora Špotáková	CZE	71.42	(AR)
2	Mariya Abakumova	RUS	70.78	(NR)
3	Christina Obergföll	GER	66.13	.
4	Goldie Sayers	GBR	65.75	(NR)
5	Steffi Nerius	GER	65.29	.
6	Osleidys Menéndez	CUB	63.35	.
7	Barbara Madejczyk	POL	62.02	.
8	Kathrina Molitor	GER	59.64	.
9	Mercedes Chilla	ESP	58.13	.
10	Li Zhang	CHN	56.14	.
11	Sinta Ozolina	LAT	53.38	.
12	Felicia Tilea-Moldovan	ROU	53.04	.

Athlete	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Barbora Špotáková	69.22	67.04		64.92		71.42
Mariya Abakumova	69.32	69.08		70.78		67.52
Christina Obergföll	66.13		63.34
Goldie Sayers	65.75	59.40	62.92	59.72	65.03	56.83
Steffi Nerius	64.05	62.25	59.97			65.29
Osleidys Menéndez	63.35
Barbara Madejczyk	58.74	59.16	58.67		58.21	62.02
Kathrina Molitor	53.19	57.37	59.64	58.81	56.72	57.00
Mercedes Chilla		57.94	58.13
Li Zhang	54.69		56.14
Sinta Ozolina	50.67	53.38	52.23
Felicia Tilea-Moldovan	53.04		52.80

Stefi Nerius, Maria Abakumova and Miklós are having a chat

Jan, Miklós and the girls. It is the end of the season, only one meeting to go in Stuttgart.

Jablonec is a Czech town in the North, 90km from Prague.This is where Ms. Barbora Spotakova was born The town and the Czech Athletic Federation decided to organise a Javelin Festival in honour of Barbora on the 7th of September, 2008. The Beijing Olympics Javelin final came together again. The competition gave an opportunity for the organisers to celebrate their Olympic winner. 8000 people were present in the local soccer stadium, when the girls came out on the brand new Polytan runup track. Ms. Abakumova won the competition by 65m, followed by Barbora Spotakova. The three times Olympic Champion Czech Athletics legend, Jan Zelezny, and the winner of the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, Dana Zatopkova, were also welcome in the stadium.

Jan Zelezny, Dana Zatopkova and Miklós Németh in the party after the competition

Marina Abakumova and Miklós are consulting about the newly received Nemeth Classic 80m, and Nemeth Club 75m javelins

Back to the top

 

 

Position	Athlete	Country	Mark	.
1	Andreas Thorkildsen	NOR	90.57	(OR)
2	Ainars Kovals	LAT	86.64	(PB)
3	Tero Pitkämäki	FIN	86.16	.
4	Tero Järvenpää	FIN	83.95	.
5	Teemu Wirkkala	FIN	83.46	.
6	Jarrod Bannister	AUS	83.45	.
7	Ilya Korotkov	RUS	83.15	.
8	Uladzimir Kazlou	BLR	82.06	(PB)
9	Vadims Vasilevskis	LAT	81.32	.
10	Scott Russell	CAN	80.90	.
11	Magnus Arvidsson	SWE	80.16	.
12	Vítezslav Veselý	CZE	76.76	.

Athlete	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Andreas Thorkildsen	84.72	85.91	87.93	85.13	90.57
Ainars Kovals	79.45	82.63	82.28	78.98	80.65	86.64
Tero Pitkämäki	83.75		80.69	85.83		86.16
Tero Järvenpää	83.95					83.63
Teemu Wirkkala		73.90	83.46			78.23
Jarrod Bannister	83.45	80.59	82.20
Ilya Korotkov	82.54		76.84	82.15		83.15
Uladzimir Kazlou	82.06	77.57	74.09			75.36
Vadims Vasilevskis	76.75		81.32
Scott Russell	80.90	78.02
Magnus Arvidsson	79.85	79.57	80.16
Vítezslav Veselý			76.76

Back to the top

 

 

 

Andreas Thorkildsen celebrates his Olympic javelin victory (Getty Images)

“If I manage to keep my level of throwing then I will hopefully be able to compete for the gold medal again in London 2012. But that is four years to go, which is quite a long time. A lot can happen until then,” said Thorkildsen, who received the information that Norway’s women handballers had won the gold medal during his warm-up for the final. “I thought that could become a perfect day for Norway if I could add a second gold. So I am happy to have achieved this for my country.”

In a year of inconsistency in the men’s Javelin Throw, Andreas Thorkildsen not only retained his Olympic title but brought respectability to the event which has been without a 90m throw all season.

And what a spectacular way for the Norwegian to take his title with an Olympic record and world season lead of 90.57m in the fifth round.

Thorkildsen had hinted that he was in very good condition just prior to these Olympics with his 87.36m win in Stockholm at the end of July. When he qualified with what seemed a below par sub-80m throw (79.85) he reassured us that this was just playing safe on a wet runway on a morning (Thu 21) which saw frequent downpours of rain.

The mark of a great champion is the manner of his victory, and in Beijing there was only one man on the runway of the same ability. If the argument had been in Athens 2004 that at 86.50 his Thorkildsen’s Olympic title had been won cheap, then tonight Thorkildsen stamped quality on a generally below par night which without his series held little spark.

That Thorkildsen improved the Olympic record of 90.17 held by the Jan Zelezny, the three-time Olympic champion and reigning World record holder, helps to define the brilliance that was the Norwegian in Beijing.

The winning series was consistent in a year when no thrower has shown any sort of stability in their competitions – 84.72; 85.91; 87.93; 85.13; 90.57; pass.

Thorildsen took the lead with his first throw and was never headed, with the expected pursuit from the three Finns, World champion Tero Pitkämäki, Tero Järvenpää, and Teemu Wirkkala never seriously appearing.

In fact it was Wirkkala who surprised a little with his 83.46 in the third which gained the Finn a further three throws. So at the half way point, it was Norway 1st 87.93, Finland 2nd (Järvenpää, 83.95), 3rd (Pitkämäki, 83.75) and 4th (Wirkkala).

The fourth round brought some joy for the erratic World champion, Pitkämäki’s spear landing at 85.83 to move into silver. There was no other improvement that round.

Pitkämäki had threaten slightly, but Järvenpää who had been fouling with 75m to 82m efforts ever since his opener, produced a massive heave which sailed out further than Thorkildsen’s lead. Unfortunately for the Finn he couldn’t hold onto his footing and fouled again. He was distraught.

But in terms of the path of the gold medal it didn’t matter a jot, as with the very next throw of the competition Thorkildsen unleashed his Olympic record. Game over.

The pain came worse for Järvenpää when in the sixth round Latvian Ainars Kovals produced a surprise PB of 86.64 to move into silver position, jumping from the sixth place he had held at the start of the round (2nd round 82.63). So Pitkämäki was now in bronze and Järvenpää was out of the medals.

Pitkämäki found some form with his last, blasted out an improvement of 86.16, but even in this shape he was not in the same class as the winner.

Thorkildsen was premier league, the rest of the world, division one tonight.

Thorkildsen, as he was already in 2004, is the second Norwegian man to win the Olympic crown, Egil Danielsen in 1956 the first, and becomes the fourth man to retain a Javelin Throw title (Lemming SWE 1908/12; Myyrä FIN 1920/24; Zelzeny CZE 1992/06/2000).

"I set two goals for this year - one was to win a medal in Oslo, my hometown," said Thorkildsen. "The second was to win an Olympic gold medal. I've always said that as long as I can win in Oslo and at the Olympic Games, that's it for me. I knew I could reach it."

Chris Turner for the IAAF

http://www.iaaf.org/OLY08/news/kind=108/newsid=47296.html