Javelin Throw – Champions
International Associations of Athletic Federation (IAAF) is the governing body of Javelin Throw. Every participating country has its own governing body to organize the game successfully throughout the calendar. Here is a list of some important tournaments in this category.
- Summer Olympics
- World Championship
- Asian Games
- World Indoor Championship
- Commonwealth Games
- IAAF Continental Cup
- Mediterranean Games
Let us now take a look at some of the famous champions of Javelin Throw and their achievements −
Jan Zelezny
Widely regarded as the all-time greatest javelin thrower, Zelezny has won the gold at the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympic Games. In addition, he has three World Championship titles.
Zelezny holds the world record at 98.48 metres and the World Championships record of 92.80 m. Zelezny is the only athlete to throw more than 94 meters with the new type of javelin and what’s more, he achieved this feat five times.
Steve Backley
Backley has won four gold medals at the European Championships, three Commonwealth Games gold medals, and two silvers and a bronze at the Olympic Games. Besides, he has two silvers at the World Championships. Backley is the only British track and field competitor to win medals at three different Olympic Games. His personal best of 91.46 metres still stands as the British record in men's javelin.
Keshorn Walcott
Walcott represents Trinidad in javelin throw. He became the youngest Olympic gold medalist in men’s javelin when he clinched the title in 2012. In the history of Olympics, he is the first black male athlete to win a gold medal in a throwing event. Walcott has another unique distinction of being the first athlete in any track and field event to win World Junior and Olympic titles in an individual event the same year.
Fatima Whitbread
Fatima Whitbread is a former British javelin thrower. Whitbread broke the javelin world record with a throw of 77.44m in the qualifying round of the 1986 European Championships and became World Champion in 1987. She won the 1986 European Championships in Stuttgart and the 1987 World Championships in Rome.
Whitbread is a two-time Olympic medalist with a bronze at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and a silver at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
Barbora Spotakova
Barbora Spotakova is the current Olympic champion, as well as the world record holder in Javelin Throw. She became the Olympic winner in 2008 with her last throw, 71.42 m, which then was the new European record. In the same year, Spotakova broke the world record in the first round to win the IAAF World Athletics Final with a throw of 72.28 m. 2008. In addition, Spotakova had won silver at the 2006 European Championships in Gothenburg.
