Steve Backley and Miklos Nemeth

World Records: 89.58m (293' 11") Stockholm, Sweden 2 Jul 1990

91.46m (300' 1") Auckland, New Zealand 25 Jan 1992

Stephen ("Steve") James Backley OBE (born 12 February 1969 in Sidcup) is a retired British athlete who was formerly the world record holder for javelin throwing. During his career, he won four gold medals at the European Championships, three Commonwealth Games gold medals, and two silvers and a bronze at the Olympic Games, and two silvers at the World Championships.

Backley was a firm fixture in the British national athletics team for over fifteen years and is the only British track and field competitor to win medals at three different Olympic Games.

Backley's first significant title, was won in 1987 when he threw 75.14 metres to pick up the European junior title, ahead of Vladimir Zossimovich (73.24) of Russia and East German Raymond Hecht (72.78). In 1988, Backley won the silver medal at the 1988 Junior World Championships. He also broke the world junior record that year.

In July 1990, Backley set a world record of 89.58m in Stockholm, Sweden. The record was then bettered by the Czech thrower Jan Železný a few weeks later, but Backley then regained the record with a throw 90.98m at Crystal Palace, London, to end the year as the world record holder. Finland's Seppo Räty then bettered the record in 1991. The records set by Železný and Räty, as well as Backley's 90.98m throw, had all been made using new 'Nemeth' javelins, however in August 1991 the IAAF declared this type of javelin illegal and all records set using them were retrospectively deleted. As a consequence, the world record reverted to the 89.58m mark that Backley had set in 1990. Backley then set another world record of 91.46m in January 1992 in New Zealand, a record which stood until the following year when it was bettered by Železný.

source: Wikipedia