1996 Summer Olympics / Athletics - Javelin Throw (Men)

sport	athletics
discipline	Javelin throw
gender	Men
Attendees	34 athletes from 21 countries
Competition location	Centennial Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	August 2, 1996 (qualification) August 3, 1996 (final)
Medalist Jan Železný ( CZE )   Steve Backley ( GBR )   Seppo Räty ( FIN )

The men's javelin throw at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta was played on August 2 and 3, 1996 at the Centennial Olympic Stadium . 34 athletes took part.

The Olympic champion was the Czech Jan Železný . He won ahead of Steve Backley from Great Britain and Seppo Räty from Finland .

Peter Blank , Raymond Hecht and Boris Henry started for Germany . All three made it to the final. Hecht finished fourth, Henry fifth and Blank ninth.
Athletes from Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein did not take part.

Current title holders

Olympic champion 1992	Jan Železný ( Czechoslovakia )	89.66 m	Barcelona 1992
World Champion 1995	Jan Železný ( Czech Republic )	89.58 m	Gothenburg 1995
European Champion 1994	Steve Backley ( Great Britain )	85.20 m	Helsinki 1994
Pan American champion 1995	Emeterio González ( Cuba )	79.28 m	Mar del Plata 1995
Central America and Caribbean champions 1995	Isbel Luaces ( Cuba )	74.78 m	Guatemala City 1995
South American Champion 1995	Luis Lucumí ( Colombia )	76.82 m	Manaus 1995
Asian champion 1995	Zhang Lianbiao ( People's Republic of China )	79.60 m	Jakarta 1995
African champion 1996	Pius Bazighe ( Nigeria )	74.18 m	Yaoundé 1996
Oceania Champion 1994	Steven Madeo ( Australia )	67.84 m	Auckland 1994

Existing records

World record	98.48 m	Jan Železný ( Czech Republic )	Jena , Germany	May 25, 1996
Olympic record	89.66 m	Jan Železný ( Czechoslovakia )	Barcelona , Spain	August 8, 1992

Remarks:

• All times are local Atlanta time ( UTC − 5 ).
• All widths are given in meters (m).

qualification

August 2, 1996, from 9:30 a.m.

The qualification was carried out in two groups. The qualification distance for direct entry into the final was 83.00 m. Since only eight throwers achieved this performance (highlighted in light blue), the final field with the next best athletes from both groups was filled by four athletes to twelve participants (highlighted in light green). So finally 79.88 m was enough for the final.

Group A

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	Expanse	annotation
1	Konstandinos Gatsioudis	Greece	87.12	-	-	87.12
2	Sergei Makarov	Russia	85.88	-	-	85.88
3	Seppo Räty	Finland	83.66	-	-	83.66
4th	Raymond Hecht	Germany	83.24	-	-	83.24
5	Peter Blank	Germany	82.68	x	-	82.68
6th	Kimmo Kinnunen	Finland	78.82	x	80.98	80.98
7th	Mick Hill	Great Britain	77.12	x	80.48	80.48
8th	Pål Arne Fagernes	Norway	78.38	x	79.78	79.78
9	David Stephens	United States	77.98	79.18	79.18	79.18
10	Emeterio González	Cuba	x	77.94	74.42	77.94
11	Edgar Baumann	Paraguay	x	75.90	77.74	77.74
12	Gavin Lovegrove	New Zealand	x	77.12	x	77.12
13	Sergei Wojnow	Uzbekistan	75.58	76.30	68.50	76.30
14th	Dag Wennlund	Sweden	75.24	x	x	75.24
15th	Terry McHugh	Ireland	69.72	x	72.84	72.84
16	Chi Ki-young	South Korea	x	70.30	71.42	71.42
17th	Kirt Thompson	Trinidad and Tobago	68.02	x	64.12	68.02

Group B

The Greek Konstandinos Gatsioudis took tenth place in the final

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	Expanse	annotation
1	Jan Železný	Czech Republic	86.52	-	-	86.52
2	Tom Pukstys	United States	80.70	81.34	84.70	84.70
3	Steve Backley	Great Britain	84.18	-	-	84.18
4th	Boris Henry	Germany	83.22	-	-	83.22
5	Zhang Lianbiao	People's Republic of China	76.24	76.76	79.88	79.88
6th	Harri Hakkarainen	Finland	77.96	79.34	x	79.34
7th	Vladimir Ovchinnikov	Russia	74.88	76.12	78.20	78.20
8th	Todd Smell	United States	x	76.68	78.02	78.02
9	Dimitrios Polymerou	Greece	76.98	x	77.82	77.82
10	Andrew Currey	Australia	71.34	76.58	77.28	77.28
11	Andrei Moruev	Russia	x	76.96	77.20	77.20
12	Nick Nieland	Great Britain	69.54	x	75.74	75.74
13	Vladimir Parfyonov	Uzbekistan	68.54	73.96	73.28	73.96
14th	Isbel Luaces	Cuba	73.84	73.20	x	73.84
15th	Donald-Aik Sild	Estonia	72.54	x	68.28	72.54
16	Pius Bazighe	Nigeria	68.02	70.78	65.70	70.78
ogV	Uladzimir Sassimovich	Belarus	x	x	x		without space

final

August 3, 1996, 6:55 pm

Twelve athletes had qualified for the final, eight of them over the required qualification distance, and another four throwers over their placements. Three Germans, two Finns and two British competed for the medals with one participant each from China, Greece, Russia, the Czech Republic and the USA.

The clear favorite for the Olympic victory was the Czech Jan Železný, who competed as the 1992 Olympic champion , two-time world champion - in 1993 and 1995 - and world record holder . His fiercest rivals were the British vice-world champion in 1995 and European champion in 1994 Steve Backley, the two Germans Boris Henry as World Cup -Dritter and Raymond Hecht as WM -Vierter and the Finnish European Vice Champion Seppo Räty.

Backley took the lead on the first lap with a good 87.44 m. In the next series of tests Železný surpassed him with 88.16 m. Third place was the German Raymond Hecht, who achieved 86.88 m with his second throw. This order lasted until the end of the fifth round. With his last throw, Räty finally pushed the German out of third place after the Finn had thrown the javelin to 86.98 m. Jan Železný was Olympic champion ahead of Steve Backley and Seppo Räty. Raymond Hecht came in fourth, Boris Henry in fifth ahead of Russian Sergei Makarow.

Jan Železný is only the third athlete, after Eric Lemming from Sweden and Jonni Myyrä from Finland , to repeat his Olympic javelin victory. Lemming won the gold medal in 1908 and 1912 , Myyrä in 1920 and 1924 .

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	4th attempt	5th attempt	6th attempt	Bottom line	annotation
1	Jan Železný	Czech Republic	x	88.16	82.86	83.86	86.02	86.12	88.16
2	Steve Backley	Great Britain	87.44	85.66	x	80.74	80.88	85.64	87.44
3	Seppo Räty	Finland	83.44	86.66	76.52	84.52	81.70	86.98	86.98
4th	Raymond Hecht	Germany	83.88	86.88	x	83.10	x	85.10	86.88
5	Boris Henry	Germany	81.24	85.68	x	82.58	83.94	84.08	85.68
6th	Sergei Makarov	Russia	82.72	85.30	81.12	x	82.28	83.78	85.30
7th	Kimmo Kinnunen	Finland	82.72	80.26	x	84.02	81.98	x	84.02
8th	Tom Pukstys	United States	78.48	80.90	83.58	81.28	82.18	81.68	83.58
9	Peter Blank	Germany	76.66	81.82	x	not in the final of the eight best throwers			81.82
10	Konstandinos Gatsioudis	Greece	x	79.08	81.46				81.46
11	Zhang Lianbiao	People's Republic of China	80.28	78.86	80.96				80.96
12	Mick Hill	Great Britain	78.58	x	x				78.58

literature

• Gerd Rubenbauer (ed.), Olympic Summer Games Atlanta 1996 with reports by Britta Kruse, Johannes Ebert, Andreas Schmidt and Ernst Christian Schütt, comments: Gerd Rubenbauer and Hans Schwarz, Chronik Verlag im Bertelsmann Verlag, Gütersloh / Munich 1996, p. 38f

Web links

• SportsReference Javelin , accessed March 5, 2018
• Official Report, Part III on the Olympic Games in Atlanta , p. 95, English / French (PDF, 13,520 MB), accessed on March 5, 2018

Video

• Men's Javelin Final Atlanta Olympics 1996 , published June 22, 2016 on youtube.com, accessed March 5, 2018

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Beijing 2015, page 680 , accessed on March 5, 2018
2. ↑ ^{a b} Official Report, Part III on the Olympic Games in Atlanta ( Memento of the original from October 7, 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. 95, English / French (PDF, 13,520 MB), accessed on March 5, 2018