2004 Summer Olympics / Athletics - Javelin Throw (Women)

sport	athletics
discipline	Javelin throw
gender	Women
Attendees	45 athletes from 31 countries
Competition location	Athens Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	August 25, 2004 (qualification) August 27, 2004 (final)
Medalists Osleidys Menéndez ( CUB )   Steffi Nerius ( GER )   Mirela Maniani ( GRE )

The javelin throw of women in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens was on 25 and 27 August 2004 at the Athens Olympic Stadium held. 45 athletes took part.

The Cuban Osleidys Menéndez became Olympic champion . She won ahead of the German Steffi Nerius and the Greek Mirela Maniani .

With Christina Obergföll and Annika Suthe , two other German participants started alongside Nerius. Both were eliminated in qualifying.
Athletes from Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein were not among the participants.

Current titleholders

Olympic champion 2000	Trine Hattestad ( Norway )	68.91 m	Sydney 2000
World Champion 2003	Mirela Maniani ( Greece )	66.52 m	Paris 2003
European Champion 2002	Mirela Maniani ( Greece )	67.47 m	Munich 2002
Pan American Champion 2003	Kim Kreiner ( USA )	60.86 m	Santo Domingo 2003
Central America and Caribbean Champion 2003	Laverne Eve ( Bahamas )	56.75 m	St. George’s 2003
South American Champion 2003	Sabina Moya ( Colombia )	58.30 m	Barquisimeto 2003
Asian Champion 2003	Ma Ning ( People's Republic of China )	57.05 m	Manila 2003
African champion 2004	Sunette Viljoen ( South Africa )	60.13 m	Brazzaville 2004
Oceania Champion 2002	Linda Selui ( New Caledonia )	47.90 m	Christchurch 2002

Existing records

World record	71.54 m	Osleidys Menéndez ( Cuba )	Rethymno in Crete , Greece	July 1, 2001
Olympic record	68.91 m	Trine Hattestad ( Norway )	Sydney final , Australia	September 30, 2000

Remarks:

• All times are based on Athens local time ( UTC + 2 ).
• All widths are given in meters (m).

qualification

The qualification was carried out in two groups. The qualification distance for the direct entry into the final was 61.00 m. Since only eleven athletes reached this distance (highlighted in light blue), the final field was filled with the next best female athlete from both groups to twelve participants (highlighted in light green). Finally, 60.97 meters had to be achieved to take part.

Group A

August 25, 2004, 7:00 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	Expanse	annotation
1	Osleidys Menéndez	Cuba	69.41	-	-	69.41
2	Tetjana Lyachowytsch	Ukraine	59.43	57.35	63.07 NO	63.07	NO
3	Savva Lika	Greece	58.29	62.22	-	62.22
4th	Steffi Nerius	Germany	57.67	60.30	62.14	62.14
5	Felicia Țilea-Moldovan	Romania	52.10	59.06	62.05	62.05
6th	Barbara Madejczyk	Poland	59.20	61.18	-	61.18
7th	Taina Kolkkala	Finland	61.16	-	-	61.16
8th	Mirela Manjani	Greece	56.92	x	61.04	61.04
9	Claudia Coslovich	Italy	60.58	x	x	60.58
10	Christina Obergföll	Germany	60.41	58.47	56.67	60.41
11	Ma Ning	People's Republic of China	59.80	55.30	57.03	59.80
12	Mercedes Chilla	Spain	54.12	x	58.45	58.45
13	Barbora Špotáková	Czech Republic	55.39	58.20	x	58.20
14th	Jarmila Klimešová	Czech Republic	55.89	55.62	57.70	57.70
15th	Valeria Zabruskova	Russia	57.51	57.53	55.47	57.53
16	Paula Huhtaniemi	Finland	56.88	x	x	56.88
17th	Ilze Gribule	Latvia	54.82	54.92	51.95	54.92
18th	Chang Jung-yeon	South Korea	x	50.54	53.93	53.93
19th	Dalila Rugama	Nicaragua	47.81	51.42	46.18	51.42
20th	Natallia Shymchuk	Belarus	51.23	x	48.11	51.23
21st	Leryn Franco	Paraguay	49.17	48.20	50.37	50.37
22nd	Romina Maggi	Argentina	46.00	48.57	48.58	48.58
ogV	Ekaterina Ivakina	Russia	x	-	-		without space

Group B

August 25, 2004, 8:35 pm

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	Expanse	annotation
1	Nikola Brejchová	Czech Republic	64.39	-	-	64.39
2	Laverne Eve	Bahamas	62.11	-	-	62.11
3	Sonia Bisset	Cuba	61.45	-	-	61.45
4th	Noraida Bicet	Cuba	59.45	60.61	60.97	60.97
5	Mikaela Ingberg	Finland	60.70	59.08	60.80	60.80
6th	Nikolett Szabó	Hungary	60.20	59.06	54.60	60.20
7th	Zuleima Araméndiz	Colombia	58.77	58.99	59.94	59.94
8th	Ageliki Tsiolakoudi	Greece	56.21	57.88	59.64	59.64
9	Katherine Sayers	Great Britain	59.11	53.64	x	59.11
10	Annika Suthe	Germany	58.70	56.81	55.62	58.70
11	Aida Sellam	Tunisia	57.76	52.77	53.22	57.76
12	Oksana Yarygina	Russia	57.57	54.20	50.28	57.57
13	Christina Scherwin	Denmark	56.79	55.26	56.86	56.86
14th	Elisabetta Marin	Italy	54.43	x	56.34	56.34
15th	Rita Ramanauskaitė	Lithuania	55.17	x	x	55.17
16	Khristina Georgieva	Bulgaria	49.69	54.65	55.13	55.13
17th	Moonika Aava	Estonia	x	53.41	54.96	54.96
18th	Sunette Viljoen	South Africa	52.71	54.45	53.28	54.45
19th	Xue Juan	People's Republic of China	52.97	x	x	52.97
20th	Liliya Dusmetova	Uzbekistan	49.86	50.92	52.46	52.46
21st	Kim Kreiner	United States	52.18	x	51.46	52.18
22nd	Patsy Serafina Akeli	Samoa	45.93	45.64	43.84	45.93

final

August 27, 2004, 8:55 pm

Twelve athletes had qualified for the final, eleven of them via the qualification distance, another via their placement. Three Cubans and two Greek women and one participant each from the Bahamas, Germany, Finland, Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic and the Ukraine were represented.

The favorites for the javelin were the reigning world and European champion Mirela Maniani from Greece and the Cuban world record holder and 2001 world champion Osleidys Menéndez. But there were other athletes with good chances of medals. They included the World Cup third from 2003 and Vice European Champion Steffi Nerius from Germany, the Finnish World Cup fourth from 2003 and EC third Mikaela Ingberg and the Cuban World Cup third from 2001 and World Cup sixth from 2003 Sonia Bisset. Of them, however, Ingberg did not reach the final.

In the final, the world record holder Menéndez demoted her opponents almost to extra. Her first throw landed at 71.53 m, with which she missed her own world record by just one centimeter. The competitors behind her now actually only fought for the medals and placements that were left after gold. And it was very tight. Nerius was second in the first round with 63.02 m, ahead of the Czech Nikola Brejchová, who had thrown 62.46 m, and fellow favorite Manjani with 62.29 m. In lap two, Brejchová passed Nerius with 63.77 m and Manjani with 63.61 m, who was now fourth. With 65.41 m Menéndez once again underlined her class in the third round, Brejchová rose to 64.23 m and thus initially consolidated her second place. Laverne Eve from the Bahamas reached 62.77 m and was only just behind Nerius in fifth.

At the beginning of the last three finals, Menéndez managed another very long throw with 68.20 m, with which she once again reinforced her lead. The third Cuban Noraida Bicet improved to sixth place with 62.51 m. It became increasingly narrow between ranks two and six, the fight for silver remained open. In the penultimate lap, Nerius rose to 63.60 m, but stayed in fourth place, missing a centimeter from the medal. Apart from that there were no further changes despite some good distances. The last round was tough again. Menéndez could safely do without her litter. Nerius reached 65.82 m, which she improved by two positions to second. The world champion Manjani threw 64.29 m, displacing Brejchová from the medal ranks. Behind them, Bisset rose to 63.54 m, which brought her fifth place in the final bill.

That was how all the decisions were made. Osleidys Menéndez became the superior Olympic champion with a new Olympic record . Steffi Nerius won the silver, Mirela Manjani the bronze. Beaten by six centimeters, Nikola Brejchová came fourth ahead of Sonia Bisset and Laverne Eve.

space	Surname	nation	1st attempt	Second attempt	3. Attempt	4th attempt	5th attempt	6th attempt	Bottom line	annotation
1	Osleidys Menéndez	Cuba	71.53 OR	x	65.41	68.60	63.64	-	71.53	OR
2	Steffi Nerius	Germany	63.02	60.58	x	x	63.60	65.82	65.82
3	Mirela Manjani	Greece	62.29	63.61	x	62.20	x	64.29	64.29
4th	Nikola Brejchová	Czech Republic	62.46	63.77	64.23	x	63.77	62.55	64.23
5	Sonia Bisset	Cuba	61.93	59.58	60.39	60.32	60.20	63.54	63.54
6th	Laverne Eve	Bahamas	57.25	58.09	62.77	58.50	x	59.02	62.77
7th	Noraida Bicet	Cuba	62.36	60.64	60.70	62.51	60.41	61.61	62.51
8th	Tetjana Lyachowytsch	Ukraine	59.52	57.26	61.75	x	57.39	55.70	61.75
9	Savva Lika	Greece	58.58	60.91	60.53	not in the final of the eight best jumpers			60.91
10	Taina Kolkkala	Finland	60.72	58.53	60.69				60.72
11	Felicia Țilea-Moldovan	Romania	58.04	57.42	59.72				59.72
12	Barbara Madejczyk	Poland	54.54	56.43	58.22				58.22

• 

  Silver medalist Steffi Nerius from Germany - here at her 2009 World Cup victory

• 

  The Czech Olympic champion Nikola Brejchová

• 

  The Greek Savva Lika finished ninth in the final

• 

  Felicia Țilea-Moldovan from Romania came in eleventh place in the final

• 

  Barbara Madejczyk from Poland was twelfth in the Olympics

Web links

• SportsReference Javelin , accessed May 17, 2018
• Results on the IAAF website, accessed on May 17, 2018
• Official Report of the XXVIIIth Olympiad, Results Athletics , English / French (PDF, 3054 KB), accessed on May 17, 2018

Video

• Athens 2004 Olympic games - Javelin woman final , published January 28, 2013 on youtube.com, accessed May 17, 2018

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Central American and Caribbean Championships (Women) on gbrathletics.com, accessed May 17, 2018
2. ^ South American Championships (Women) on gbrathletics.com, accessed May 17, 2018
3. ↑ Asian Championships on gbrathletics.com, accessed May 17, 2018
4. ↑ Oceania Championships on gbrathletics.com, accessed May 17, 2018
5. ↑ IAAF World Records, Javelin Throw Women , accessed on May 17, 2018