1988 Summer Olympics / Athletics - Javelin Throw (Men)

sport	athletics
discipline	Javelin throw
gender	Men
Attendees	38 athletes from 22 countries
Competition location	Seoul Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	September 24, 1988 (qualifying) September 25, 1988 (final)
Medalist Tapio Korjus ( FIN )   Jan Železný ( TCH )   Seppo Räty ( FIN )

The men's javelin at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul was played in two rounds on September 24th and 25th, 1988 in the Seoul Olympic Stadium. 38 athletes took part.

For the first time at this Olympic Games a 1986 modified spear with a forward shifted center of gravity was used. The two main reasons for this were the ever larger distances achieved and the measurement problems that arose from the flat angle of impact of the old spear models. Often there was no mark or a mark that was difficult to recognize that the spear left on impact, which often made measuring the distance very difficult or sometimes even made the throw invalid. Moving the center of gravity forward on the new spear fixed both problems.

The Olympic champion was Tapio Korjus from Finland . He won ahead of the Czechoslovak Jan Železný and Seppo Räty , like Korjus from Finland.

Klaus Tafelmeier started for the Federal Republic of Germany. He reached the final and finished fourth. Detlef Michel , Silvio Warsönke and Gerald Weiß took part
for the GDR . Michel and Warsönke failed in the qualification. White reached the final and finished sixth. The Swiss Rudolf Steiner could not qualify for the final. Athletes from Austria and Liechtenstein did not take part.

Current title holders

Olympic champion 1984	Arto Härkönen ( Finland )	86.76 m distance achieved with an old spear model	Los Angeles 1984
World Champion 1987	Seppo Räty ( Finland )	83.54 m	Rome 1987
European champion 1986	Klaus Tafelmeier ( Federal Republic of Germany )	84.76 m	Stuttgart 1986
Pan American champion 1987	Duncan Atwood ( USA )	78.68 m	Indianapolis 1987
Central America and Caribbean Champion 1987	Luis Lucumí ( Colombia )	72.46 m	Caracas 1987
South America Champion 1987	Nivalde Beje Filho ( Brazil )	64.46 m	São Paulo 1987
Asian champion 1987	Takahiro Yamada ( Japan )	72.62 m	Singapore 1987
African Champion 1988	Justin Arop ( Uganda )	74.52 m	Annaba 1988

Existing records

World record	87.66 m	Jan Železný ( Czechoslovakia )	Nitra , Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia )	May 31, 1987
Olympic record	New spear used for the first time at these games, so the old record is no longer valid

Note on the records and the new spear:

In 1986 a new throwing device was introduced, the focus of which was further forward. The distances achieved with it were smaller, so all previous records were invalid.

The last world record with the old javelin was 104.80 m and was set on July 20, 1984 by Uwe Hohn (GDR) in East Berlin .

With 94.58 m, the Hungarian Miklós Németh achieved the last Olympic record with the old javelin on July 26, 1976 in Montreal .

qualification

Date: September 24, 1988

For the qualification, the athletes were drawn into two groups. The qualification distance for direct entry into the final was 79.00 m. Since exactly twelve throwers exceeded this distance (highlighted in light blue), the final field was not filled any further.

Group A

GDR thrower Silvio Warsönke was seventh in his qualification group and was eliminated

Detlef Michel from the GDR finished ninth in his qualification group and could not qualify for the final

It was in this group that the first Olympic records were set with the new spear. The first thrower, the Finn Seppo Räty, scored 76.76 m. The first improvement was achieved by the Japanese Kazuhiro Mizoguchi on 77.44 m. Then the Swede Peter Borglund threw 78.66 m. The Czechoslovak Jan Železný finally managed a distance of 85.90 m. This value was no longer exceeded during the Games in Seoul , neither in the other qualifying group nor in the final, and thus remained the Olympic spear throwing record until the next Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992 .

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	Expanse	annotation
1	Jan Železný	Czechoslovakia	85.90 m OR	-	-	85.90 m	OR with the new spear
2	Seppo Räty	Finland	76.76 m	77.70 m	81.62 m	81.62 m
3	Vladimir Ovchinnikov	Soviet Union	x	77.68 m	80.26 m	80.26 m
4th	Kimmo Kinnunen	Finland	77.22 m	80.24 m	-	80.24 m
5	Gerald White	GDR	78.20 m	74.80 m	80.22 m	80.22 m
6th	Peter Borglund	Sweden	78.66 m	73.76 m	80.16 m	80.16 m
7th	Sejad Krdžalić	Yugoslavia	72.40 m	78.06 m	79.90 m	79.90 m
8th	Einar Vilhjálmsson	Iceland	78.46 m	75.64 m	78.92 m	78.92 m
9	Tom Petranoff	United States	71.42 m	75.04 m	77.48 m	77.48 m
10	Kazuhiro Mizoguchi	Japan	77.44 m	x	77.46 m	77.46 m
11	Rudolf Steiner	Switzerland	76.02 m	67.56 m	x	76.02 m
12	Roald Bradstock	Great Britain	75.96 m	73.66 m	72.60 m	75.96 m
13	Brian Crouser	United States	72.66 m	72.64 m	72.72 m	72.72 m
14th	Charlus Bertimon	France	70.84 m	70.58 m	70.48 m	70.84 m
15th	Michael Mahovlich	Canada	x	69.44 m	67.32 m	69.44 m
16	Stéphane Laporte	France	63.66 m	x	69.40 m	69.40 m
17th	Zakayo Malekwa	Tanzania	x	67.14 m	67.56 m	67.56 m
18th	Ghanem Mabrouk Zaid Johar	Kuwait	62.88 m	63.50 m	65.84 m	65.84 m
19th	Paul Hurlston	Cayman Islands	x	62.34 m	61.78 m	62.34 m

Group B

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	Expanse	annotation
1	Tapio Korjus	Finland	76.42 m	78.26 m	81.42 m	81.42 m
2	David Ottley	Great Britain	80.98 m	-	-	80.98 m
3	Klaus Tafelmeier	BR Germany	77.98 m	75.08 m	80.52 m	80.52 m
4th	Dag Wennlund	Sweden	x	79.66 m	-	79.66 m
5	Viktor Jewsyukov	Soviet Union	71.18 m	79.26 m	-	79.26 m
6th	David Stephens	United States	78.42 m	76.80 m	70.86 m	78.42 m
7th	Silvio Warsönke	GDR	75.88 m	75.78 m	78.22 m	78.22 m
8th	Lee Wook-jong	South Korea	x	67.96 m	78.10 m	78.10 m
9	Detlef Michel	GDR	73.54 m	77.68 m	77.70 m	77.70 m
10	Mick Hill	Great Britain	77.20 m	74.98 m	72.98 m	77.20 m
11	Masami Yoshida	Japan	74.76 m	71.38 m	76.90 m	76.90 m
12	Terry McHugh	Ireland	76.46 m	73.34 m	69.18 m	76.46 m
13	Pascal Lefèvre	France	76.42 m	74.56 m	72.90 m	76.42 m
14th	Zdeněk Nenadál	Czechoslovakia	75.56 m	69.78 m	75.34 m	75.56 m
15th	Sigurdur Einarsson	Iceland	69.18 m	72.90 m	75.52 m	75.52 m
16	Stephen Feraday	Canada	68.78 m	66.22 m	73.32 m	73.32 m
17th	Justin Arop	Uganda	67.54 m	69.10 m	67.68 m	69.10 m
18th	Hafez El-Hussein	Syria	63.34 m	63.34 m	63.30 m	63.34 m
19th	Abdul Azim Al-Aliwat	Saudi Arabia	56.32 m	53.32 m	49.48 m	56.32 m

final

Date: September 25, 1988

Twelve athletes had qualified for the final. Each of them had exceeded the required qualification range. All three participants from Finland were in the final. There were also two throwers from Sweden and two from the Soviet Union. The field of participants was completed by one starter each from the Federal Republic of Germany, the GDR, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and Great Britain. For the first time at the Olympic Games, the new spear model was used with a forward shifted focus.

The favorites were the Finnish world champion Seppo Räty, the Czechoslovak world record holder Jan Železný, the reigning European champion Klaus Tafelmeier from the Federal Republic of Germany, the first world record holder with the new spear, and the Soviet vice world champion Viktor Jewsjukow, who was also third in the European Championship .

The Finn Tapio Korjus took the lead in the first lap with 82.74 m. Jewsjukow was in second place ahead of GDR thrower Gerald Weiss. In the second round Železný, who improved to 82.32 m, caught up with Jewsjukow. This had achieved exactly the same distance. White also improved to 81.30 m, but remained in fourth place ahead of Tafelmeier. With 83.26 m, Räty then took the lead on lap three, which Železný took from him again in the following round with 83.46 m. In the fifth attempt nothing changed. Železný was in front of Räty, Korjus, Jewsjukow, Weiß and Tafelmeier. In the last run the ranking was mixed up again. At first, Tafelmeier pushed past Weiss and Jewsjukow to fourth with 82.72 m. Räty could not improve his distance. Železný then extended his lead to 84.12 m before Tapio Korjus scored 84.28 m with his last throw and thus became Olympic champion. Jan Železný won the silver medal, Seppo Räty bronze. Klaus Tafelmeier took fourth place ahead of Wiktor Jewsjukow and Gerald Weiss. Jan Železnýs Olympic record distance of 85.90 m from the qualification was not exceeded in this final and lasted until the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona .

Tapio Korjus won the seventh gold medal for Finland in the javelin throw .

Jan Železný won the first Czechoslovak medal in this discipline.

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	4th attempt	5th attempt	6th attempt	Bottom line	annotation
1	Tapio Korjus	Finland	82.74 m	76.26 m	-	-	x	84.28 m	84.28 m
2	Jan Železný	Czechoslovakia	x	82.32 m	81.60 m	83.46 m	77.88 m	84.12 m	84.12 m
3	Seppo Räty	Finland	80.00 m	76.26 m	83.26 m	78.74 m	80.66 m	80.44 m	83.26 m
4th	Klaus Tafelmeier	BR Germany	80.14 m	78.72 m	78.28 m	x	77.76 m	82.72 m	82.72 m
5	Viktor Jewsyukov	Soviet Union	81.42 m	82.32 m	x	80.38 m	81.42 m	79.52 m	82.32 m
6th	Gerald White	GDR	80.66 m	81.30 m	79.94 m	77.26 m	77.80 m	78.28 m	81.30 m
7th	Vladimir Ovchinnikov	Soviet Union	76.48 m	76.58 m	79.12 m	x	77.32 m	x	79.12 m
8th	Dag Wennlund	Sweden	76.88 m	75.62 m	78.30 m	x	76.60 m	x	78.30 m
9	Peter Borglund	Sweden	78.16 m	78.22 m	74.76 m	not in the final of the eight best throwers			78.22 m
10	Kimmo Kinnunen	Finland	75.62 m	77.78 m	78.04 m				78.04 m
11	David Ottley	Great Britain	74.52 m	75.70 m	76.96 m				76.96 m
12	Sejad Krdžalić	Yugoslavia	72.12 m	73.28 m	x				73.28 m

GDR thrower Gerald Weiß took sixth place in the final

Web links

• SportsReference Javelin , accessed January 29, 2018
• Official report on the Olympic Games in Seoul Volume two, part two , results in athletics: p. 245, English / French (PDF, 25.64 MB), accessed on January 29, 2018

Video

• Jan Zelezny vs. Tapio Korjus - 1988 Olympics javelin throw final , published May 26, 2011 on youtube.com, accessed January 29, 2018

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Dr. Jürgen Schiffer: "Why did the senior javelin specification have to be changed?" - Article in IAAF / New Studies in athletics 3 / 4.00 , accessed on January 29, 2018
2. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Beijing 2015, page 680 , accessed on January 29, 2018
3. ↑ ^{a b} Official report on the Olympic Games in Seoul Volume two, part two , Athletics results: p. 245, English / French (PDF, 25.64 MB), accessed on January 29, 2018