On This Day

Javelin Throw in History

Athletics: Decathlon - Discus Throw - Hammer Throw - Heptathlon - High Jump - Hurdles - Long Jump - Marathon Running - Middle Distance Running - Pentathlon - Pole Vault - Race Walking - Relay Race - Shot Put - Sprinting - Triple Jump - World Championships in Athletics

Events in Sport

  • 1956-11-26 Egil Danielsen of Norway sets a new world record throw of 85.71m to win the men's javelin gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics
  • 1984-07-20 Uwe Hohn of East Germany throws javelin a record 104.8 m
  • 1987-07-23 Petra Felke (E Ger) throws javelin 78.89 m (women's record)
  • 1991-05-06 Seppo Raty of Finland sets javelin record to 301' 9"
  • 1991-06-02 Seppo Raty of Finland improves his world javelin record to 318' 1"
  • 2004-08-27 Osleidys Menéndez of Cuba throws an Olympic record 71.53m to easily beat German Steffi Nerius for the women's javelin gold medal at the Athens Games
  • 2021-08-07 Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra makes history winning his country’s first-ever Olympic track and field gold with 87.58m in Tokyo

Birthdays in Sport

  • 1881-10-28 Bruno Söderström, Swedish athlete (Olympic silver pole vault & bronze javelin 1906; bronze pole vault 1908; popularized bowling in Sweden), born in Stockholm, Sweden (d. 1969)
  • 1909-02-18 Matti Järvinen, Finnish javelin thrower (Olympic gold 1932), born in Tampere, Finland (d. 1985)
  • 1910-08-05 Nan Gindele, US javelin thrower (World Record 1932-38), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1992)

Babe Didrikson Zaharias (1911-1956)

1911-06-26 American all-round athlete (10 LPGA major titles, Olympic gold 80m hurdles, javelin 1932), born in Port Arthur, Texas

Babe Didrikson Zaharias
  • 1911-07-28 Gerhard Stöck, German athlete (Olympic gold javelin, bronze shot put 1936), born in Kaiserswalde, Germany (d. 1985)
  • 1915-01-23 Herma Bauma, Austrian javelin thrower (Olympic gold 1948), born in Vienna, Austria (d. 2003)
  • 1922-09-19 Dana Zátopková, Czech athlete (Olympic gold women's javelin 1952, silver 1960), born in Fryštát, Czechoslovakia (d. 2020)
  • 1927-10-25 Franklin "Bud" Held, American field athlete (2 x WR javelin; first to throw 800-gram javelin over 80m), born in Los Angeles, California
  • 1928-07-23 Cy Young, American athlete and only US male to win gold in javelin throwing (1952 Olympics), born in Modesto, California (d. 2017)
  • 1939-05-19 Jānis Lūsis, Latvian athlete (Olympic gold men's javelin 1968, silver 1972, bronze 1968), born in Jelgava, Latvia (d. 2020)
  • 1939-10-08 Elvīra Ozoliņa, Soviet javelin thrower (Olympic gold 1960), born in Leningrad
  • 1946-10-23 Miklós Németh, Hungarian athlete (Olympic gold javelin 1976), born in Budapest, Hungary
  • 1946-12-14 Ruth Fuchs, German javelin thrower (Olympic 2 gold-72, 76), born in Egeln, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany
  • 1953-12-29 Kate Schmidt, American javelin thrower (Olympic bronze 1972, 76; WR 69.32m 1977), born in Long Beach, California
  • 1956-03-14 Tessa Sanderson, British javelin thrower (Olympic gold. 1984), born in Kingston, Jamaica
  • 1958-03-25 Maria Caridad Colón, Cuba, javelin thrower, (Olympic gold 1980)
  • 1959-07-30 Petra Felke, German javelin thrower (world record 1988), born in Saalfeld, East Germany
  • 1960-06-20 Donna Mayhew, Taylor Penn, javelin thrower
  • 1961-04-15 Tiina Lillak, Finnish javelin thrower (Olympic silver 1984), born in Helsinki, Finland
  • 1966-04-18 Trine Hattestad, Norwegian javelin thrower (Olympic gold 2000), born in Lørenskog, Norway
  • 1966-06-16 Jan Zelezny, Czech, javelin thrower (Olympics 2 gold-92, 96)
  • 1968-05-28 Tomas P Pukstys, American javelin thrower (Olympics 8th 1996), born in Chicago, Illinois
  • 1969-01-24 Louise McPaul, Australian javelin thrower (Olympic silver 1992, 96), born in Port Kembla, New South Wales
  • 1976-12-21 Mirela Manjani, Greek javelin thrower, born in Durrës, Albania
  • 1977-09-27 Andrus Värnik, Estonian javelin thrower
  • 1982-04-01 Andreas Thorkildsen, Norwegian athlete (Olympic gold men's javelin 2004, 08; World C'ship gold 2009), born in Kristiansand, Norway
  • 1982-12-19 Tero Pitkämäki, Finnish athlete (World C'ship gold javelin 2007; Olympic bronze 2008), born in Ilmajoki, Finland
  • 1993-04-02 Keshorn Walcott ORTT, Trinidadian athlete (Olympic gold javelin 2012, bronze 2016), born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
  • 1997-12-24 Neeraj Chopra, Indian athlete (Olympic gold javelin 2020; first-ever Indian Olympic track & field gold), born in Panipat, Haryana, India

Deaths in Sport

Babe Didrikson Zaharias (1911-1956)

1956-09-27 American all-round athlete (10 LPGA majors, Olympic gold medals 80m hurdles, javelin 1932), dies of colon cancer at 45

Babe Didrikson Zaharias
  • 1969-01-01 Bruno Söderström, Swedish athlete (Olympic silver pole vault & bronze javelin 1906; bronze pole vault 1908; popularized bowling in Sweden), dies at 87
  • 1985-03-29 Gerhard Stöck, German athlete (Olympic gold javelin, bronze shot put 1936), dies at 73
  • 1985-07-22 Matti Järvinen, Finnish javelin thrower (Olympic gold 1932), dies at 76
  • 2017-12-06 Cy Young, American athlete and only US male to win gold in javelin throwing (1952 Olympics), dies of complications from dementia at 89
  • 2020-03-13 Dana Zátopková, Czech athlete (Olympic gold women's javelin 1952, silver 1960), dies at 97
  • 2020-04-29 Jānis Lūsis, Latvian athlete (Olympic gold men's javelin 1968, silver 1972, bronze 1968), dies at 80

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