1968 Summer Olympics / Athletics - Javelin Throw (Men)

sport	athletics
discipline	Javelin throw
gender	Men
Attendees	27 athletes from 18 countries
Competition location	Estadio Olímpico Universitario
Competition phase	October 15, 1968 (qualification) October 16, 1968 (final)
Medalist Jānis Lūsis ( URS )   Jorma Kinnunen ( FIN )   Gergely Kulcsár ( HUN )

The men's javelin at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City was held on October 15 and 16, 1968 at the Estadio Olímpico Universitario . 27 athletes took part.

Olympic champion was Jānis Lūsis from the Soviet Union. He won ahead of the Finn Jorma Kinnunen and the Hungarian Gergely Kulcsár .

For the Federal Republic of Germany - officially Germany - were Hermann Salomon , Rolf Herings and Klaus Wolfermann . Herings and Wolfermann failed in the qualification, Salomon reached the final and finished twelfth.
The GDR - officially East Germany - was represented by Manfred Stolle , who reached fifth place in the final. Urs von Wartburg and Rolf Bühler competed
for Switzerland . Bühler failed to qualify, von Wartburg reached eighth place in the final. The Austrian Walter Pektor also qualified for the final and came in tenth. Athletes from Liechtenstein did not take part.

Existing records

World record	91.98 m	Jānis Lūsis ( Soviet Union )	Saarijärvi , Finland	June 23, 1968
Olympic record	85.71 m	Egil Danielsen ( Norway )	Melbourne finals , Australia	November 26, 1956

Conducting the competition

The athletes entered a qualifying round on October 15, which was completed in two groups. The twelve best starters qualified for the final. In addition, every thrower who reached the minimum distance of 80.00 m was directly qualified for the final on October 16. Since fewer than twelve starters make the qualification distance, the starting field was filled with the next best throwers up to twelve participants. In the final, each athlete initially had three attempts. For the first time, the eight best throwers - and not the six best up to 1964 - were able to complete three more attempts.

Time schedule

October 15, 10 a.m .: Qualification
October 16, 3 p.m .: Final

Note: All times are Mexico City local time ( UTC −6)

The athletes qualified over the distance are highlighted in light blue, the others in light green.

qualification

Date: October 15, 1968, from 10 a.m.

Group A

GDR thrower Manfred Stolle came in fifth in the final

The Swiss Urs von Wartburg was eighth in the final

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	Expanse	annotation
1	Åke Nilsson	Sweden	x	x	84.74 m	84.74 m
2	Jānis Lūsis	Soviet Union	83.68 m	-	-	83.68 m
3	Jorma Kinnunen	Finland	x	74.16 m	83.16 m	83.16 m
4th	Manfred Stolle	GDR	81.88 m	-	-	81.88 m
5	Gergely Kulcsár	Hungary	81.56 m	-	-	81.56 m
6th	Mark Murro	United States	74.14 m	81.14 m	-	81.14 m
7th	Wladyslaw Nikiciuk	Poland	74.16 m	78.22 m	81.00 m	81.00 m
8th	Urs von Wartburg	Switzerland	76.58 m	80.66 m	-	80.66 m
9	Janusz Sidło	Poland	74.90 m	80.12 m	-	80.12 m
10	Hermann Salomon	BR Germany	79.48 m	x	76.50 m	79.48 m
11	Rolf Herings	BR Germany	79.08 m	77.00 m	78.70 m	79.08 m
12	Pauli Nevala	Finland	x	77.90 m	x	77.90 m
13	Mart Paama	Soviet Union	74.18 m	77.26 m	74.64 m	77.26 m
14th	Frank Covelli	United States	70.30 m	x	73.04 m	73.04 m

Group B

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	Expanse	annotation
1	Walter Pektor	Austria	82.16 m	-	-	82.16 m
2	Aurelio Janet	Cuba	80.10 m	-	-	80.10 m
3	Klaus Wolfermann	BR Germany	75.78 m	71.40 m	75.02 m	75.78 m
4th	Miklós Németh	Hungary	74.56 m	74.82 m	75.50 m	75.50 m
5	Dave Travis	Great Britain	74.24 m	74.36 m	70.84 m	74.36 m
6th	Lode Wyns	Belgium	73.68 m	x	x	73.68 m
7th	Gary Stenlund	United States	73.52 m	68.88 m	71.44 m	73.52 m
8th	Bill Heikkila	Canada	70.10 m	71.20 m	70.78 m	71.20 m
9	Nashatar Singh Sidhu	Malaysia	x	63.58 m	70.70 m	70.70 m
10	Rolf Hoppe	Chile	68.32 m	65.82 m	65.86 m	68.32 m
11	William League	Fiji	x	61.62 m	62.32 m	62.32 m
12	Donald Velez	Nicaragua	48.92 m	x	61.32 m	61.32 m
13	Rolf Bühler	Switzerland	61.05 m	x	x	61.05 m

final

Date: October 16, 1968, 3 p.m.

The top favorite was the Soviet thrower Jānis Lūsis, bronze medalist from 1964 , European champion from 1966 and holder of the world record , but his victory was on the knife edge until the last round.

In the first final round, the Finn Jorma Kinnunen led with a new Olympic record ahead of the Swede Åke Nilsson and the Hungarian Gergely Kulcsár. Lūsis followed in fourth place. In the second attempt, he took the top position with another record improvement. The Pole Władysław Nikiciuk was fourth in front of Nilsson. In the fourth attempt, Kulcsár then took the lead, he threw the spear more than 70 centimeters further than Lūsis on his record. Lūsis stayed second ahead of Kinnunen. In the last round both Kinnunen and Lūsis exceeded Kulcsár's Olympic record again. Jānis Lūsis threw it a meter and a half further and became Olympic champion. He was the only thrower in this high-class competition to throw over ninety meters. Silver medalist was Jorma Kinnunen, Gergely Kulcsár remained the bronze medal.

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	4th attempt	5th attempt	6th attempt	Bottom line	annotation
1	Jānis Lūsis	Soviet Union	81.74 m	86.34 m OR	82.66 m	84.40 m	x	90.10 m OR	90.10 m	OR
2	Jorma Kinnunen	Finland	86.30 m OR	x	x	79.00 m	85.82 m	88.58 m	88.58 m
3	Gergely Kulcsár	Hungary	83.10 m	x	83.82 m	87.06 m OR	85.14 m	83.40 m	87.06 m
4th	Wladyslaw Nikiciuk	Poland	x	85.70 m	82.24 m	x	82.32 m	80.44 m	85.70 m
5	Manfred Stolle	GDR	x	76.86 m	81.52 m	84.42 m	x	79.72 m	84.42 m
6th	Åke Nilsson	Sweden	83.48 m	x	x	x	76.74 m	79.76 m	83.48 m
7th	Janusz Sidło	Poland	80.00 m	76.36 m	80.58 m	75.50 m	77.86 m	76.46 m	80.58 m
8th	Urs von Wartburg	Switzerland	80.56 m	77.06 m	77.22 m	x	x	x	80.56 m
9	Mark Murro	United States	80.06 m	80.08 m	x	not in the final of the eight best throwers			80.08 m
10	Walter Pektor	Austria	75.64 m	77.40 m	x				77.40 m
11	Aurelio Janet	Cuba	x	74.88 m	x				74.88 m
12	Hermann Salomon	BR Germany	x	71.64 m	73.50 m				73.50 m

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, pp. 370–372

Videos

• Janis Lusis's Olympic Record of 90.10m at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics , published April 8, 2011 on youtube.com, accessed November 9, 2017
• Jorma Kinnunen Mexico 1968 , published January 17, 2017 on youtube.com, accessed November 9, 2017

Web links

• SportsReference Javelin , accessed November 9, 2017
• Official report - summary p. 106, engl./frz. (PDF), accessed on November 9, 2017
• Official report of the 1968 Olympic Games p. 630, English / French. (PDF), accessed on November 9, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 Page 559 (Engl.) ( Memento of 29 June 2011 at the Internet Archive ), accessed on November 9, 2017
2. ↑ Official report of the 1968 Olympic Games ( Memento of the original from September 17, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 10, English / French (PDF), accessed on November 9, 2017 
3. ↑ ^{a b} Official Report of the 1968 Olympic Games ( Memento of the original from September 17, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 530, English / French (PDF), accessed on November 9, 2017 
4. ↑ Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, p. 370f