To be fair: an athlete holding the spear by the end and hurling it… somewhere by accelerating it through rotating the body like a hammer thrower does sound slightly dangerous.
Also, the farthest throw was actually 104.8 meters.
But… weren’t javelins originally designed to be dangerous?
True, but even the earliest commanders usually frowned on spears coming their way which were meant for the enemy.
You were also supposed to be able to hit your target.
I’m not picky, any target is fine. Boar, pheasant, peasant, doesn’t matter.
According to Wiki, the modern javelin event has an “unlimited runup”. I, for one, would like to test that wording of the rules
the technique:
using the technique holding the end of the javelin. Officials were so afraid of the out of control nature of the technique that the practice was banned through these rule specifications.
I’ve spent some time reading the Wikipedia article looking for the relevant part, I guess I was 10 mins early (didn’t get the chance to see your comment before that). Here’s the (probably) corresponding video, the first video result when searching for the freestyle javelin technique, in case it helps anyone: https://youtu.be/52rvqtiBoow?si=RiLjhJG2ttv-0s1W
…invented by American thrower Bud Held and developed and manufactured by his brother Dick…
Are we… are we just ignoring the fact that the guy making these was named “dick held”?
I find it more impressive that someone decided to name their sons dick and butt
Longest throw, huh?
Doesn’t count if not American.
The javelin was officially redesigned in 1986 to limit its distance to keep it in the field, and to ensure it doesn’t land flat. They are likely only counting post-redesign throws.
It was in 1956 though, why would they count post-redesign throws?
It’s just a badly quoted fact.
I say we bring back team sports - two or more groups throwing javelins at each other.
It can be payed either turn based or in real time.
… now that I think about it, with hammers & some body armour would be
even betternot as good but still fun.Uwe Hohn (East Germany) 1984, 104.8m throw:
Petra Felke (East Germany) 1988, 80.0m throw:
iirc, they also moved the center of gravity so it couldn’t fly as far
People are too fast these days, I vote for Olympic runners having to wear weights
How about:
If they manage to become too fast again, we can maybe hold the event in a pool filled with 1m of water.
