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 |
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Date Finished: August 5, 1984 |
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(Competitors: 28; Countries: 19; Finalists: 12) |
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Venue(s): Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, California
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Overview by IAAF |
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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. |
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Summary by Sports-reference.com |
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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 |
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Results |
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Javelin Throw |
Men |
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Final |
5 August |
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Rank |
Mark |
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Athlete |
Country |
NOC |
Birth Date |
Records |
1 |
86.76 |
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Arto Härkönen |
Finland |
FIN |
31 Jan 59 |
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2 |
85.74 |
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Dave Ottley |
Great Britain |
GBR |
5 Aug 55 |
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3 |
83.72 |
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Kenth Eldebrink |
Sweden |
SWE |
14 May 55 |
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4 |
82.46 |
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Wolfram Gambke |
West Germany |
FRG |
2 Nov 59 |
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5 |
81.98 |
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Masami Yoshida |
Japan |
JPN |
14 Jun 58 |
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6 |
81.58 |
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Einar Vilhjálmsson |
Iceland |
ISL |
1 Jun 60 |
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7 |
81.22 |
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Roald Bradstock |
Great Britain |
GBR |
24 Apr 62 |
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8 |
80.68 |
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Laslo Babits |
Canada |
CAN |
17 Apr 58 |
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9 |
78.98 |
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Per Erling Olsen |
Norway |
NOR |
30 Mar 58 |
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10 |
78.40 |
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Tom Petranoff |
United States |
USA |
8 Apr 58 |
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11 |
78.10 |
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Duncan Atwood |
United States |
USA |
11 Oct 55 |
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12 |
70.86 |
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Jean-Paul Lakafia |
France |
FRA |
29 Jun 61 |
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Javelin Throw |
Men |
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Qualification |
4 August |
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Rank |
Mark |
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Athlete |
Country |
NOC |
Birth Date |
Records |
1 |
85.96 |
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Tom Petranoff |
United States |
USA |
8 Apr 58 |
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2 |
85.68 |
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Dave Ottley |
Great Britain |
GBR |
5 Aug 55 |
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3 |
83.06 |
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Arto Härkönen |
Finland |
FIN |
31 Jan 59 |
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4 |
83.06 |
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Roald Bradstock |
Great Britain |
GBR |
24 Apr 62 |
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5 |
82.98 |
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Wolfram Gambke |
West Germany |
FRG |
2 Nov 59 |
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6 |
82.46 |
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Per Erling Olsen |
Norway |
NOR |
30 Mar 58 |
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7 |
82.18 |
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Laslo Babits |
Canada |
CAN |
17 Apr 58 |
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8 |
81.42 |
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Masami Yoshida |
Japan |
JPN |
14 Jun 58 |
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9 |
81.06 |
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Kenth Eldebrink |
Sweden |
SWE |
14 May 55 |
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10 |
80.94 |
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Einar Vilhjálmsson |
Iceland |
ISL |
1 Jun 60 |
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11 |
80.52 |
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Jean-Paul Lakafia |
France |
FRA |
29 Jun 61 |
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12 |
79.34 |
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Duncan Atwood |
United States |
USA |
11 Oct 55 |
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13 |
79.26 |
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Raimo Manninen |
Finland |
FIN |
17 Sep 55 |
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14 |
79.16 |
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Juan de la Garza |
Mexico |
MEX |
20 Sep 61 |
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15 |
76.62 |
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Reidar Lorentzen |
Norway |
NOR |
22 Sep 56 |
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16 |
76.52 |
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Sejad Krdžalic |
Yugoslavia |
YUG |
5 Jan 60 |
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17 |
76.46 |
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Tero Saviniemi |
Finland |
FIN |
8 Jul 63 |
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18 |
75.50 |
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Steve Roller |
United States |
USA |
20 Feb 54 |
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19 |
75.18 |
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Zakayo Malekwa |
Tanzania |
TAN |
2 Feb 51 |
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20 |
74.82 |
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Kazuhiro Mizoguchi |
Japan |
JPN |
18 Mar 62 |
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21 |
74.58 |
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Mohamed Rashid Khan |
Pakistan |
PAK |
26 Oct 52 |
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22 |
73.52 |
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Klaus Tafelmeier |
West Germany |
FRG |
12 Apr 58 |
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23 |
72.96 |
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Agostino Ghesini |
Italy |
ITA |
4 Aug 58 |
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24 |
71.48 |
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Chen Hung-Yen |
Chinese Taipei |
TPE |
1 Oct 57 |
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25 |
70.08 |
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Gurtej Singh |
India |
IND |
15 Oct 59 |
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26 |
69.82 |
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Sigurdur Einarsson |
Iceland |
ISL |
28 Sep 62 |
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27 |
69.76 |
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Justin Arop |
Uganda |
UGA |
24 Mar 58 |
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NM |
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Mike O'Rourke |
New Zealand |
NZL |
21 Aug 55 |
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Qualification
Group A
Group BFinal
Rank |
Overall |
Athlete |
Attempts |
Distance |
1 |
2 |
3 |
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 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
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 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
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Arto Härkönen (FIN) |
X |
78.74 |
84.34 |
86.76 |
X |
X |
86.76 m |
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David Ottley (GBR) |
85.74 |
81.52 |
X |
X |
83.92 |
84.46 |
85.74 m |
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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 |
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9 |
Per Erling Olsen (NOR) |
73.64 |
X |
78.98 |
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78.98 m |
10 |
Tom Petranoff (USA) |
X |
X |
78.40 |
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78.40 m |
11 |
Duncan Atwood (USA) |
72.54 |
78.10 |
X |
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78.10 m |
12 |
Jean-Paul Lakafia (FRA) |
X |
X |
70.86 |
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70.86 m |
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