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1984 Olympic Games Los Angeles - Men's Javelin Throw

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Details: Parent Category: Olympic Games (Athletics); Category: 1984 Olympic Games Los Angeles - (Athletics); Last Updated: 30 July 2016; Hits: 1042

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Host City: Los Angeles, United States

Format: Top 12 and ties and all those reaching 83.00 metres advanced to the final.

Date Started: August 4, 1984

Date Finished: August 5, 1984

(Competitors: 28; Countries: 19; Finalists: 12)

Venue(s): Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, California

Overview by IAAF

Uwe Hohn (GDR) would almost certainly have won the 1984 javelin gold. In his 11 competitions that year Hohn averaged 94.09, a distance not reached by any other thrower in 1984, topped by his monster 104.80, a throw which guaranteed the introduction of a new less aerodynamic javelin. Of those who were present in LA, Tom Petranoff, who had set a world record of 99.72 in 1983, and top German thrower Klaus Tafelmeier, were considered the best gold medal bets. The javelin is recognised as the most unpredictable of the throwing events, and this competition followed that rule, as Tafelmeier failed to qualify, throwing 73.52 in the morning qualifying round. The reason given for his failure was that he was “an evening person”. Petranoff led the qualifiers with 85.96, but could only reach 78.40 in the final, more than 2m less than needed for the top eight. Ottley was the only other man over 85m in qualifying, and he reached 85.74 in round one of the final, with only Härkönen over 83m in the first half of the competition. Härkönen had been the youngest man (20) ever to throw 90m five years earlier, and in the fourth round hurled the winner. Eldebrink moved from eighth to third with his fifth-round 83.72. The winner was not only the first Finn to win for 20 years, but also the first left hander to take the javelin title.

Summary by Sports-reference.com

The top javelinist in 1984 was easily East German Uwe Hohn. His 11 meets prior to July averaged 94.09, longer than any other mark in 1984. On 20 July 1984, he changed the event. That day in Berlin he broke the world record with 104.80 (343-10). The throw was so long that it started to raise safety concerns. He was close to literally throwing the javelin out of the stadium – or at least the infield – and putting runners or spectators in danger. Because of this the javelin specifications were shortly thereafter changed, and a new implement was in use from April 1986. Without Hohn nobody was favored in Los Angeles. Tom Petranoff (USA) led the qualifiers with 85.96 (282-0¼) but would finish only 10th in the final. The gold was won by Finland's Arto Härkönen, continuing his nation's tradition in the javelin. He was the first left-hander to win the Olympic javelin.

Records

Standing records prior to the 1984 Summer Olympics
World Record	Uwe Hohn (GDR)	104.80 m	July 20, 1984	East Berlin, East Germany
Olympic Record	Miklós Németh (HUN)	94.58 m	July 25, 1976	Montreal, Canada

		Results

*Javelin Throw*	Men	Final	5 August

Rank	Mark	Athlete	Country	NOC	Birth Date	Records
1	86.76	Arto Härkönen	Finland	FIN	31 Jan 59
2	85.74	Dave Ottley	Great Britain	GBR	5 Aug 55
3	83.72	Kenth Eldebrink	Sweden	SWE	14 May 55
4	82.46	Wolfram Gambke	West Germany	FRG	2 Nov 59
5	81.98	Masami Yoshida	Japan	JPN	14 Jun 58
6	81.58	Einar Vilhjálmsson	Iceland	ISL	1 Jun 60
7	81.22	Roald Bradstock	Great Britain	GBR	24 Apr 62
8	80.68	Laslo Babits	Canada	CAN	17 Apr 58
9	78.98	Per Erling Olsen	Norway	NOR	30 Mar 58
10	78.40	Tom Petranoff	United States	USA	8 Apr 58
11	78.10	Duncan Atwood	United States	USA	11 Oct 55
12	70.86	Jean-Paul Lakafia	France	FRA	29 Jun 61
*Javelin Throw*	Men	Qualification	4 August

Rank	Mark	Athlete	Country	NOC	Birth Date	Records
1	85.96	Tom Petranoff	United States	USA	8 Apr 58
2	85.68	Dave Ottley	Great Britain	GBR	5 Aug 55
3	83.06	Arto Härkönen	Finland	FIN	31 Jan 59
4	83.06	Roald Bradstock	Great Britain	GBR	24 Apr 62
5	82.98	Wolfram Gambke	West Germany	FRG	2 Nov 59
6	82.46	Per Erling Olsen	Norway	NOR	30 Mar 58
7	82.18	Laslo Babits	Canada	CAN	17 Apr 58
8	81.42	Masami Yoshida	Japan	JPN	14 Jun 58
9	81.06	Kenth Eldebrink	Sweden	SWE	14 May 55
10	80.94	Einar Vilhjálmsson	Iceland	ISL	1 Jun 60
11	80.52	Jean-Paul Lakafia	France	FRA	29 Jun 61
12	79.34	Duncan Atwood	United States	USA	11 Oct 55
13	79.26	Raimo Manninen	Finland	FIN	17 Sep 55
14	79.16	Juan de la Garza	Mexico	MEX	20 Sep 61
15	76.62	Reidar Lorentzen	Norway	NOR	22 Sep 56
16	76.52	Sejad Krdžalic	Yugoslavia	YUG	5 Jan 60
17	76.46	Tero Saviniemi	Finland	FIN	8 Jul 63
18	75.50	Steve Roller	United States	USA	20 Feb 54
19	75.18	Zakayo Malekwa	Tanzania	TAN	2 Feb 51
20	74.82	Kazuhiro Mizoguchi	Japan	JPN	18 Mar 62
21	74.58	Mohamed Rashid Khan	Pakistan	PAK	26 Oct 52
22	73.52	Klaus Tafelmeier	West Germany	FRG	12 Apr 58
23	72.96	Agostino Ghesini	Italy	ITA	4 Aug 58
24	71.48	Chen Hung-Yen	Chinese Taipei	TPE	1 Oct 57
25	70.08	Gurtej Singh	India	IND	15 Oct 59
26	69.82	Sigurdur Einarsson	Iceland	ISL	28 Sep 62
27	69.76	Justin Arop	Uganda	UGA	24 Mar 58
	NM	Mike O'Rourke	New Zealand	NZL	21 Aug 55

Detailed View

Qualification

Group A

Group BFinal

Rank	Overall	Athlete	Attempts			Distance
Rank	Overall	Athlete	1	2	3	Distance
1	3	Roald Bradstock (GBR)	79.52	81.08	83.06	83.06 m
2	5	Wolfram Gambke (FRG)	75.10	82.98	X	82.98 m
3	6	Per Erling Olsen (NOR)	82.46	X	X	82.46 m
4	7	Laslo Babits (CAN)	X	76.68	82.18	82.18 m
5	8	Masami Yoshida (JPN)	78.14	81.42	78.06	81.42 m
6	10	Einar Vilhjálmsson (ISL)	79.78	X	80.94	80.94 m
7	11	Jean-Paul Lakafia (FRA)	80.52	66.26	78.02	80.52 m
8	12	Duncan Atwood (USA)	77.08	79.34	X	79.34 m
9	13	Raimo Manninen (FIN)	79.26	X	X	79.24 m
10	14	Juan de la Garza (MEX)	78.80	X	79.16	79.16 m
11	16	Sejad Krdžalić (YUG)	76.52	X	X	76.52 m
12	19	Zakayo Malekwa (TAN)	71.80	X	75.18	75.18 m
13	23	Agostino Ghesini (ITA)	72.16	63.92	72.96	72.96 m
14	27	Justin Arop (UGA)	69.76	66.30	X	69.76 m
Rank	Overall	Athlete	Attempts			Distance
Rank	Overall	Athlete	1	2	3	Distance
1	1	Tom Petranoff (USA)	85.96	—	—	85.96 m
2	2	David Ottley (GBR)	85.68	—	—	85.68 m
3	4	Arto Härkönen (FIN)	82.82	83.06	—	83.06 m
4	9	Kenth Eldebrink (SWE)	79.36	81.06	79.42	81.06 m
5	2	Reidar Lorentzen (NOR)	X	68.00	76.62	76.62 m
6	17	Tero Saviniemi (FIN)	X	76.46	X	76.46 m
7	18	Steve Roller (USA)	75.50	75.48	X	75.50 m
8	20	Kazuhiro Mizoguchi (JPN)	74.82	72.58	69.18	74.82 m
9	21	Rashid Mohammed (PAK)	72.48	70.76	74.58	74.58 m
10	22	Klaus Tafelmeier (FRG)	X	X	73.52	73.52 m
11	24	Chen Hung-Yen (TPE)	62.46	71.48	68.54	71.48 m
12	25	Gurtej Singh (IND)	63.62	70.08	69.32	70.08 m
13	26	Sigurður Einarsson (ISL)	69.82	66.68	67.02	69.82 m
—	—	Mike O'Rourke (NZL)	X	X	X	NM
Rank	Athlete	Attempts						Distance
Rank	Athlete	1	2	3	4	5	6	Distance
	Arto Härkönen (FIN)	X	78.74	84.34	86.76	X	X	86.76 m
	David Ottley (GBR)	85.74	81.52	X	X	83.92	84.46	85.74 m
	Kenth Eldebrink (SWE)	X	80.28	X	X	83.72	83.30	83.72 m
4	Wolfram Gambke (FRG)	82.00	82.46	X	78.88	X	72.08	82.46 m
5	Masami Yoshida (JPN)	X	81.98	X	81.98	77.92	81.66	81.98 m
6	Einar Vilhjálmsson (ISL)	80.44	77.66	79.22	81.58	X	79.26	81.58 m
7	Roald Bradstock (GBR)	70.20	81.22	78.22	76.68	X	78.82	81.22 m
8	Laslo Babits (CAN)	X	X	80.68	X	X	X	80.68 m

9	Per Erling Olsen (NOR)	73.64	X	78.98				78.98 m
10	Tom Petranoff (USA)	X	X	78.40				78.40 m
11	Duncan Atwood (USA)	72.54	78.10	X				78.10 m
12	Jean-Paul Lakafia (FRA)	X	X	70.86				70.86 m