Jan Železný

Jan Železný

Jan Železný 2015

nation

Czechoslovakia (−1992) Czech Republic (1993–2006)

birthday

June 16, 1966

place of birth

Czechoslovakia

size

186 cm

Weight

88 kg

Career

discipline

Javelin throw

Best performance

98.48 m

status

resigned

End of career

September 19, 2006

Medal table

Olympic games	3 ×	1 ×	0 ×
World championships	3 ×	0 ×	2 ×
European championships	0 ×	0 ×	2 ×

Olympic games
silver	1988 Seoul	Javelin throw
gold	1992 Barcelona	Javelin throw
gold	1996 Atlanta	Javelin throw
gold	2000 Sydney	Javelin throw
World championships
bronze	1987 Rome	Javelin throw
gold	1993 Stuttgart	Javelin throw
gold	1995 Gothenburg	Javelin throw
bronze	1999 Seville	Javelin throw
gold	2001 Edmonton	Javelin throw
European championships
bronze	1994 Helsinki	Javelin throw
bronze	2006 Gothenburg	Javelin throw

last change: August 9, 2012

Jan Železný (born June 16, 1966 in Mladá Boleslav , Czechoslovakia ) is a former Czech athlete who is a three-time world and Olympic champion as well as the current world record holder in javelin throw .

There are 19 years between his first international success, third place at the World Championships in 1987, and his last, third place at the 2006 European Championships. In September 2006 he announced his retirement from professional sport.

Records

Železný set a total of four new world records in his career. The first he achieved with a width of 87.66 m on May 31, 1987 in Nitra. After this was improved in the meantime by Patrik Bodén and Steve Backley , he threw a new record (95.54 m) in Saint Petersburg in 1993, which he improved to 95.66 m a few months later in Sheffield. On May 25, 1996, he set the world record of 98.48 m, which is still valid today, in Jena.

Železný is the only javelin thrower who has been able to reach a distance of more than 95 meters with the competition javelin, which has been mandatory since 1986; the next best distance comes from the German Johannes Vetter (94.44 m) in 2017. He achieved a total of 52 throws over 90 meters, more than all other throwers combined. (As of August 9, 2012)

His Olympic record of 90.17 m from 2000 was improved to 90.57 m by Andreas Thorkildsen in 2008 .

Coaching career

Since the end of his career he has trained Vítězslav Veselý , Jakub Vadlejch , Petr Frydrych and Barbora Špotáková, among others .

Placements

Olympic games

With three Olympic victories, Železný is the most successful javelin thrower in Olympic history. Before him, only Eric Lemming and Jonni Myyrä could repeat their Olympic victory in the early days of the sport. In athletics, with Al Oerter in the discus throw and Carl Lewis in the long jump, two athletes were able to achieve four Olympic victories in a row. Behind these two is Železný with three wins and a second place level with the triple jumper Viktor Sanejew .

1988 : 2nd place
1992 : 1st place
1996 : 1st place
2000 : 1st place
2004 : 9th place

World championships

With three world championship titles, Železný is the most successful javelin thrower at world championships. The most successful athlete in this regard is the pole vaulter Serhij Bubka with six world championship titles.

1987 : 3rd place
1991 : 18th place in qualification
1993 : 1st place
1995 : 1st place
1997 : 9th place in the preliminary fight
1999 : 3rd place
2001 : 1st place
2003 : 4th place

European championships

In the history of the European Championships, there have only been a few athletes who have managed to win four European championships in a row. Two of them were javelin throwers, namely Jānis Lūsis from 1962 to 1971 and Steve Backley from 1990 to 2002. Jan Železný was able to beat Steve Backley at world championships and the Olympic Games. He never made it at the European Championships. After Steve Backley's resignation, Železný returned to the stage of the European Championships in 2006. But at the age of 40 he had no chance against “young athletes” like the 2004 Olympic champion Andreas Thorkildsen .

1986 : 18th place in qualification
1990 : 13th place in qualification
1994 : 3rd place
2002 : in the preliminary fight without a valid attempt
2006 : 3rd place