1948 Summer Olympics / Athletics - Javelin Throw (Men)

sport	athletics
discipline	Javelin throw
gender	Men
Attendees	23 athletes from 14 countries
Competition location	Wembley Stadium
Competition phase	4th August 1948
Medalist Tapio Rautavaara ( FIN )   Steve Seymour ( USA )   József Várszegi ( HUN )

The javelin men in the 1948 Olympic Games in London was on August 4, 1948 in Wembley Stadium discharged. 22 athletes took part.

The Olympic champion was Tapio Rautavaara from Finland, ahead of Steve Seymour from the United States . Bronze went to the Hungarian József Várszegi .

Existing records

• World record : 78.70 m - Yrjö Nikkanen ( Finland ), Kotka , October 16, 1938
• Olympic record : 72.71 m - Matti Järvinen ( Finland ), Los Angeles final , August 4, 1932

Conducting the competition

Participants competed in a qualifying round on August 4th. The qualification distance required was 64.00 meters. All athletes who managed this distance qualified for the final on the same day. If fewer than 12 athletes have made the distance, the final field was filled on the basis of the distances. In the final, all participants had three attempts. The best six throwers then had another three attempts, the other six were eliminated.

qualification

space	Surname	nation	Expanse	annotation
1	Martin Biles	United States	67.68 m
2	Per-Arne Berglund	Sweden	67.02 m
3	Tapio Rautavaara	Finland	64.68 m
4th	Gunnar Petersson	Sweden	64.04 m
5	Steve Seymour	United States	63.83 m
6th	Lumír Kiesewetter	Czechoslovakia	63.25 m
7th	Odd Mæhlum	Norway	63.00 m
8th	Mirko Vujačić	Yugoslavia	62.53 m
9	Pauli Vesterinen	Finland	61.67 m
10	József Várszegi	Hungary	61.63 m
11	Soini Nikkinen	Finland	61.21 m
12	Bob Likins	United States	61.00 m
13	Ricardo Héber	Argentina	60.82 m
14th	Raymond Tissot	France	58.19 m
15th	Dušan Vujačić	Yugoslavia	57.62 m
16	Nico Lutkeveld	Netherlands	56.25 m
17th	Jóel Sigurðsson	Iceland	55.69 m
18th	Pedro Apellániz	Spain	54.93 m
19th	Morville Chote	Great Britain	54.84 m
20th	Leo Roininen	Canada	53.92 m
21st	Malcolm Dalrymple	Great Britain	53.17 m
22nd	Halil Zıraman	Turkey	53.30 m
23	Pierre Sprécher	France	52.30 m

August 4, 1948, 11 a.m.

Note: The directly qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue, those who qualify for the following best distance are highlighted in light green. Only the best is recorded. The order and length of further attempts in qualification are unknown.

Olympic champion Tapio Rautavaara (FIN)

final

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	4th attempt	5th attempt	6th attempt	Best	annotation
1	Tapio Rautavaara	Finland	69.77 m	x	57.59 m	59.43 m	61.86 m	58.95 m	69.77 m
2	Steve Seymour	United States	x	62.37 m	67.56 m	61.72 m	63.58 m	61.00 m	67.56 m
3	József Várszegi	Hungary	67.03 m	58.14 m	60.29 m	57.53 m	59.71 m	58.35 m	67.03 m
4th	Pauli Vesterinen	Finland	65.44 m	60.69 m	63.01 m	61.76 m	65.89 m	65.79 m	65.89 m
5	Odd Mæhlum	Norway	65.32 m	62.00 m	61.67 m	59.23 m	60.59 m	59.33 m	65.32 m
6th	Martin Biles	United States	58.70 m	65.09 m	65.17 m	59.09 m	64.10 m	65.17 m	65.17 m
7th	Mirko Vujačić	Yugoslavia							64.89 m
8th	Bob Likins	United States							64.51 m
9	Gunnar Petersson	Sweden							62.80 m
10	Per-Arne Berglund	Sweden							62.62 m
11	Lumír Kiesewetter	Czechoslovakia							60.25 m
12	Soini Nikkinen	Finland							58.05 m

August 4, 1948, 2:30 p.m.

Note: The trial series are only known for the best six throwers. For the other finalists, only the best scores are submitted.

Tapio Rautavaara, who won the competition with a long throw in the first attempt, was an all-rounder. He was also successful as an archer - national champion and team world champion - and later known as an actor and singer.
The other two medal winners, Steve Seymour (USA) and the Hungarian József Várszegi, had not made it through the qualifying distance, but still reached the final in fifth - Seymour - and tenth - Várszegi. Seymour reached second place in the final with the third attempt, Várszegi threw the distance for the bronze medal in the first round. With its soft run-up, the facility offered no conditions for better widths. So the world record remained a long way off and the Olympic record continued to exist.

In the eighth Olympic competition, Rautavaara threw the spear to the fourth Finnish victory.

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, p. 39f

Web links

• SportsReference Javelin , accessed August 23, 2017
• Official report p. 272, engl. (PDF), accessed on August 23, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009, page 559 ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ ^{a b} Official report "Athletic Timetable" p. 241, engl. (PDF)
3. ↑ SportsReference (Eng.)
4. ↑ Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, p. 40