1988 Summer Olympics / Athletics - Javelin Throw (Women)

sport	athletics
discipline	Javelin throw
gender	Women
Attendees	29 athletes from 18 countries
Competition location	Seoul Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	September 25, 1988 (qualifying) September 26, 1988 (final)
Medalists Petra Felke ( GDR )   Fatima Whitbread ( GBR )   Beate Koch ( GDR )

The women's javelin throw at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul was played in two rounds on September 25 and 26, 1988 in the Seoul Olympic Stadium. 29 athletes took part.

Olympic champion was Petra Felke from the GDR. She won ahead of the British Fatima Whitbread and her compatriot Beate Koch .

In addition to the medalists, Silke Renk took part for the GDR . She also reached the finals and was fifth in the Olympics. Beate Peters and Ingrid Thyssen started
for the Federal Republic of Germany . Peters failed in the qualification. Thyssen reached the final and finished eighth. The Swiss Denise Thiémard also qualified for the final. She finished ninth. Athletes from Austria and Liechtenstein did not take part.

Current titleholders

Olympic champion 1984	Tessa Sanderson ( Great Britain )	69.56 m	Los Angeles 1984
World Champion 1987	Fatima Whitbread ( Great Britain )	76.64 m	Rome 1987
European champion 1986		76.32 m	Stuttgart 1986
Pan American Champion 1987	Ivonne Leal ( Cuba )	63.70 m	Indianapolis 1987
Central America and Caribbean Champion 1987	Herminia Bouza ( Cuba )	62.78 m	Caracas 1987
South American Champion 1987	Sueli dos Santos ( Brazil )	56.00 m	São Paulo 1987
Asian champion 1987	Li Baolian ( People's Republic of China )	60.12 m	Singapore 1987
African champion in 1988	Yasmina Azzizi ( Algeria )	48.82 m	Annaba 1988

Existing records

World record	80.00 m	Petra Felke ( GDR )	Potsdam , GDR (now Germany )	September 9, 1988
Olympic record	69.56 m	Tessa Sanderson ( Great Britain )	Los Angeles final , USA	August 6, 1984

qualification

Date: September 25, 1988

For the qualification, the athletes were drawn into two groups. The qualification distance for direct entry into the final was 63.00 m. Since only nine throwers exceeded this distance (highlighted in light blue), the final field was filled with the next three throwers from both groups to twelve participants (highlighted in light green). So finally 61.56 m were required for the final.

Group A

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	Expanse	annotation
1	Petra Felke	GDR	67.06 m	-	-	67.06 m
2	Beate Koch	GDR	66.86 m	-	-	66.86 m
3	Natalja Yermolowitsch	Soviet Union	x	64.44 m	-	64.44 m
4th	Zsuzsa Malovecz	Hungary	64.30 m	-	-	64.30 m
5	Denise Thiémard	Switzerland	55.18 m	61.74 m	55.60 m	61.74 m
6th	Tuula Laaksalo	Finland	57.34 m	60.64 m	54.66 m	60.64 m
7th	Beate Peters	BR Germany	x	x	60.20 m	60.20 m
8th	Laverne Eve	Bahamas	x	57.48 m	60.02 m	60.02 m
9	Trine Solberg	Norway	57.76 m	56.90 m	58.82 m	58.82 m
10	Anna Verouli	Greece	57.60 m	58.52 m	x	58.52 m
11	Tessa Sanderson	Great Britain	54.18 m	56.70 m	56.26 m	56.70 m
12	Zhou Yuanxiang	People's Republic of China	53.66 m	52.80 m	56.36 m	56.36 m
13	Lynda Sutfin	United States	56.08 m	56.12 m	x	56.12 m
14th	Celine Chartrand	Canada	47.64 m	46.18 m	54.10 m	54.10 m
ogV	Nadine Auzeil	France	x	x	x		without space

Group B

The 1984 Finnish silver medalist Tiina Lillak was eliminated here in Los Angeles as eighth of her group in the qualification

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	Expanse	annotation
1	Fatima Whitbread	Great Britain	54.90 m	x	68.44 m	68.44 m
2	Antoaneta Selenska	Bulgaria	50.84 m	61.62 m	64.60 m	64.60 m
3	Silke Renk	GDR	63.64 m	-	-	63.64 m
4th	Ingrid Thyssen	BR Germany	63.32 m	-	-	63.32 m
5	Irina Kostyuchenkova	Soviet Union	58.56 m	x	63.24 m	63.24 m
6th	Päivi Alafrantti	Finland	62.82 m	58.54 m	59.82 m	62.82 m
7th	Donna Mayhew	United States	61.56 m	60.62 m	59.08 m	61.56 m
8th	Tiina Lillak	Finland	60.06 m	x	55.52 m	60.06 m
9	Li Baolian	People's Republic of China	56.64 m	58.92 m	56.62 m	58.92 m
10	Karin Smith	United States	57.42 m	53.86 m	57.94 m	57.94 m
11	Emi Matsui	Japan	50.70 m	x	56.26 m	56.26 m
12	Sharon Gibson	Great Britain	56.00 m	50.74 m	53.20 m	56.00 m
13	Iris Grönfeldt	Iceland	x	54.28 m	50.84 m	54.28 m
14th	Yoo Chun-ok	South Korea	x	44.92 m	48.26 m	48.26 m

final

Olympic champion Petra Felke, GDR

Date: September 26, 1988

Twelve athletes had qualified for the final, nine of which had exceeded the qualification range. All three participants from the GDR and two from the Soviet Union as well as one athlete each from Bulgaria, the Federal Republic of Germany, Finland, Switzerland, Hungary and Great Britain were qualified.

A duel between the British Fatima Whitbread and Petra Felke from the GDR was expected. Whitbread was the reigning world and European champion . She had set a world record in the 1986 continental fights, which Felke had first improved in July 1987 and then a few days before the games in Seoul . In the Olympic season she threw exactly 80 meters and was the first woman to penetrate this area. It was also the last, because this record has never been and will not be surpassed, because in April 1999 new spears were introduced with a focus shifted further forward, as with the men. The Olympic champion from Los Angeles , Whitbread's compatriot Tessa Sanderson, and also the silver medalist Tiina Lillak from Finland were both not in top form after four years and were eliminated in the qualification.

Felke took the lead in the first final round with 72.62 m. This made her the first 70-meter thrower at the Olympic Games. In her further attempts she got two more litters over this mark. She achieved her best result in round two with 74.68 m. This made her the clearly dominant thrower in this competition and kept her lead until the end. Whitbread positioned herself in second place with her in the second attempt - 67.46 m. With the last litter she achieved a very good 70.32 m, which, however, did not mean any improvement in the ranking. Felke and Whitbread were the only participants to surpass the 70-meter mark. Petra Felke became Olympic champion and Fatima Whitbread won the silver medal. Bronze went to Beate Koch from the GDR, who with 67.30 m, like Irina Kostjutschenkowa from the USSR, reached the 67-meter mark in fourth place. Silke Renk in fifth was just below this value with 66.38 m.

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	4th attempt	5th attempt	6th attempt	Bottom line	annotation
1	Petra Felke	GDR	72.62 m OR	74.68 m OR	66.12 m	66.76 m	71.12 m	68.38 m	74.68 m	OR
2	Fatima Whitbread	Great Britain	61.98 m	67.46 m	66.58 m	64.86 m	67.82 m	70.32 m	70.32 m
3	Beate Koch	GDR	67.30 m	65.66 m	66.48 m	62.04 m	65.64 m	66.02 m	67.30 m
4th	Irina Kostyuchenkova	Soviet Union	64.34 m	67.00 m	63.12 m	63.42 m	63.10 m	x	67.00 m
5	Silke Renk	GDR	60.86 m	58.74 m	63.98 m	64.60 m	64.74 m	66.38 m	66.38 m
6th	Natalja Yermolowitsch	Soviet Union	64.84 m	x	x	x	x	-	64.84 m
7th	Donna Mayhew	United States	57.52 m	x	61.78 m	59.72 m	x	56.74 m	61.78 m
8th	Ingrid Thyssen	BR Germany	60.76 m	60.12 m	56.66 m	x	59.64 m	58.28 m	60.76 m
9	Denise Thiémard	Switzerland	57.58 m	57.20 m	58.54 m	not in the final of the eight best throwers			58.54 m
10	Päivi Alafrantti	Finland	58.20 m	55.86 m	56.46 m				58.20 m
11	Antoaneta Selenska	Bulgaria	56.78 m	x	x				56.78 m
12	Zsuzsa Malovecz	Hungary	x	54.58 m	x				54.58 m

Web links

• SportsReference Javelin , accessed February 4, 2018
• Official report on the Olympic Games in Seoul Volume two, part two , Athletics results: p. 267, English / French (PDF, 25.64 MB), accessed on February 4, 2018

Video

• Petra Felke 74.68m Seoul Olympics 1988 , published July 25, 2016 on youtube.com, accessed February 4, 2018

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Beijing 2015, page 802 , accessed on February 4, 2018
2. ↑ ^{a b} Official report on the Olympic Games in Seoul Volume two, part two , Athletics results: p. 267, English / French (PDF, 25.64 MB), accessed on February 4, 2018