Matti Narhi

Matti Närhi (born August 17, 1975 in Viitasaari ) is a Finnish athlete who has been a javelin thrower since the early 1990s .

Närhi represented his country to the

and each time reached the final battle with the following placements:

2004 in Athens: 10th place with 80.28 m. He had fulfilled the required qualification distance of 81 m with a throw of 81.06 m.
1999 in Seville: 12th place with 79.47 m. Even his qualifying performance of 85.05 m would not have been enough for a medal, as the third-placed, the Czech Jan Železný , came to 87.67 m.
1998 in Budapest: 8th place with 82.58 m. After only four throwers had mastered the 82.50 m required in the qualification, Närhi was seventh with 80.94 m.

Närhi was also at the start at the 2001 World Cup in Edmonton , but had to retire injured without a valid attempt.

Närhi had medal success in the early part of his career. He won three silver medals:

Junior European Championship 1993 in San Sebastian : Silver with 71.74 m behind Greek Dimitrios Polymerou (gold with 72.80 m)
Junior World Championships 1994 in Lisbon : Silver with 74.92 m behind the South African Marius Corbett (gold with 77.98 m)
European Championship U23 1997 in Turku : silver with 80.72 m behind his compatriot Pietari Skyttä (gold with 81.58 m) and in front of the German Christian Nicolay (bronze with 78.18 m)

Since he had strong competition in his own country with Seppo Räty , Aki Parviainen and Tero Pitkämäki , he could not win a national championship.

Performance development:

year	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2001	2004
Width (m)	83.14	85.78	88.24	84.38	87.88	84.21	86.61

With his personal best of 88.24 m, thrown on July 27, 1997 in Soini , he currently (March 2007) ranks 17th on the all-time world best list.

Matti Närhi is 1.88 m tall and weighs 100 kg.

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