50 articles
2025 World Athletics Championships – Men's javelin throw
The men's javelin throw at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo was won by Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago with a season's best of 88.16 m.
Al Oerter
Al Oerter (Alfred Adolph Oerter Jr., 1936–2007), American discus thrower; first athlete to win the same Olympic event four consecutive Games (1956, 1960, 1964, 1968), setting an Olympic record each time.
Alessandro Andrei
Alessandro Andrei, born 1959 in Florence, Italian shot putter, 1984 Los Angeles Olympic champion (21.26 m), set three shot put world records at Viareggio on 12 August 1987 ending at 22.91 m, Italian record until 2024; 1987 world silver; husband of Agnese Maffeis.
Angela Nemeth Ranky
Angela Nemeth Ranky (Angéla Németh-Ránky, 1946–2014), Hungarian javelin thrower; 1968 Olympic champion (60.36 m) and 1969 European champion; only Hungarian woman to win an Olympic throwing title.
Antoaneta Todorova Selenska
Antoaneta Todorova Selenska (Антоанета Иванова Тодорова-Селенска), born 1963, Bulgarian javelin thrower; set the 71.88 m women's world record in Zagreb in 1981 and competed at the 1980, 1988, and 1992 Olympics.
Armas Taipale
Armas Rudolf Taipale (1890-1976), Finnish discus thrower nicknamed Iso-Armas, won both discus events at Stockholm 1912 (45.21 m and 82.86 m both-hands) and discus silver at Antwerp 1920; his 1913 world-best throws were never ratified.
Arsi Harju
Arsi Harju (born 1974, Kurikka, Finland), nicknamed Kulta-Arsi, is a Finnish shot putter who won Olympic gold at Sydney 2000 with 21.29 m, Finland's first shot put title in 80 years, plus 2001 World bronze.
Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's javelin throw
Men's javelin throw at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (held 2021): Neeraj Chopra won India's first athletics gold with 87.58m; Czechs Vadlejch and Veselý took silver and bronze; favorite Johannes Vetter finished ninth.
Athletics at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Men's javelin throw
Men's javelin throw, Paris 2024 Olympics: Arshad Nadeem (Pakistan) won gold with an Olympic record 92.97 m, beating Neeraj Chopra (India, 89.45 m) and Anderson Peters (Grenada, 88.54 m) at the Stade de France.
Caber toss
Caber toss: traditional Scottish Highland Games heavy event in which a 4-5 m tapered log (Gaelic caber, pole) is flipped end over end and scored by accuracy on a clock face, 12 o'clock being perfect, not by distance.
Christa Spielberg
Christa (Christine) Spielberg, born 1941, East German discus thrower; 1966 European champion, set a 61.64 m discus world record in May 1968, the first by a GDR thrower; seventh at the 1968 Olympics.
Claudia Losch
Claudia Losch, born 1960, West German shot putter; 1984 Los Angeles Olympic champion (20.48 m), 1989 World Indoor champion, three-time European Indoor champion, personal best 22.19 m, fourth on the all-time list.
Discus throw
Discus throw: Olympic track and field event throwing a disc from a 2.5 m circle. Ancient pentathlon event, modern since 1896. Men's WR 75.56 m (Alekna, 2025); women's WR 76.80 m (Reinsch, 1988).
Erwin Blask
The German hammer thrower Erwin Blask won a silver medal at the 1936 Berlin Olympics and later set the world record for his event in Stockholm in 1938.
Fatima Whitbread
Fatima Whitbread, born Fatima Vedad in 1961, is a retired British javelin thrower who won world title in 1987 and Olympic medals in 1984 and 1988.
Ferdinanda Nan Gindele
Nan Gindele (Ferdinanda Gindele-Bauman), American javelin thrower and softball player from Chicago; set the first IAAF-recognized women's javelin world record, 46.745 m in 1932, and placed fifth at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.
Hal Connolly
Hal Connolly (Harold Vincent Connolly, 1931-2010), American hammer thrower, 1956 Melbourne Olympic gold medalist with 63.19 m, seven-time hammer world record holder, husband of Olga Fikotová; not the umpire Tom Connolly.
Hammer throw
Hammer throw, Olympic and World Athletics field event; athletes spin and release a 7.26 kg (men) or 4 kg (women) wire-slung ball; records 86.74 m Sedykh, 82.98 m Włodarczyk.
Ilke Wyludda
Ilke Wyludda (1969-2024), German discus thrower, 1996 Atlanta Olympic champion, 11 discus world records, world U20 record 74.40 m, PB 74.56 m; later Paralympian after 2010 leg amputation.
Javelin
Javelin throw, a track and field event at the Olympics and World Athletics Championships; men throw an 800 g javelin, women 600 g. Records: Jan Zelezny 98.48 m, Barbora Spotakova 72.28 m; implement redesigned in 1986 and 1999.
Javelin throw
Javelin throw, spear-throwing athletics event at the Olympics and World Championships; men's record 98.48m (Jan Zelezny), women's 72.28m (Barbora Spotakova); 800g/600g implements; 1986 redesign after Uwe Hohn's 104.80m.
Jay Silvester
Jay Silvester (L. Jay Silvester, born 1937) is an American discus thrower who set four world records, was first over 60 m and 220 feet, and won Olympic discus silver in 1972 after fourth and fifth places in 1964 and 1968.
Jim Fuchs
Jim Fuchs (James Emanuel Fuchs, 1927-2010), American shot putter, two-time Olympic bronze medalist, set four shot put world records (17.79-17.95 m) and won 88 straight meets, 1949-1950.
John Powell
John Powell (John Gates Powell, 1947-2022), American discus thrower, Olympic bronze medalist 1976 and 1984, 1975 world record holder at 69.08 m, personal best 71.26 m, 1987 World silver at age 40, USATF Hall of Fame 2019.
Johnny Kuck
Johnny Kuck (John Henry Kuck, 1905-1986), American shot putter and javelin thrower; won 1928 Amsterdam Olympic shot put gold with a 15.87 m world record, his third record improvement of 1928, competing on a broken ankle.
Juha Tiainen
Juha Tiainen (1955-2003), Finnish hammer thrower, 1984 Los Angeles Olympic champion with 78.08 m; personal best 81.52 m Finnish record; only Finnish or Scandinavian Olympic or World hammer gold medallist.
Julius Saaristo
Julius Saaristo, nicknamed Jussi, was a Finnish javelin thrower and army officer who won the two-handed javelin at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics and silver in the single-arm event.
Kateryna Derun
Kateryna Derun (Катерина Олександрівна Дерун), born 1993, Ukrainian javelin thrower; 2010 Youth Olympic champion (54.59 m), 2015 European U23 silver medallist, 2016 Olympian, personal best 62.82 m.
Ken Carpenter
Ken Carpenter (William Kenneth Carpenter, 1913–1984), American discus thrower and USC Trojan; won 1936 Berlin Olympic discus gold with a 50.48 m Olympic record; distinct from the 1964-born track cyclist of the same name.
Konrad Bukowiecki
Konrad Bukowiecki, Polish shot putter born 1997 in Szczytno, Youth Olympic and World Junior champion, 2017 European Indoor champion, 2018 European silver medallist, personal best 22.25 m.