The Women's Javelin Throw

Javelin throw

The javelin throw is a track and field athletics throwing event where the object to be thrown is the javelin, a spear approximately 2.5 metres in length. Javelin is an event of both the men's decathlon and the women's heptathlon...

 event at the 2004 Summer Olympics

2004 Summer Olympics

The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...

 as part of the athletics program

Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics

At the 2004 Summer Olympics, the athletics events were held at the Athens Olympic Stadium from August 18 to August 29, except for the marathons , the race walks , and the shot put...

 was held at the Athens Olympic Stadium August 25 and August 27. Top 12 and ties, and all those reaching 61.00 metres advanced to the final.

The favorite was the 2000 bronze medalist, Cuba's Osleidys Menéndez

Osleidys Menéndez

Osleidys Menéndez Sáez is a Cuban athlete competing in the javelin throw. She is a former Olympic champion, world champion, and world record holder. She has been described as the female "Jan Železný" of her times....

, who was the world record holder, had won the 2001 World Championships, and had recorded the six longest throws of 2004. She settled matters in round one with 71.53 (234-8¼) metres, missing her world record by only a centimeter. German Steffi Nerius

Steffi Nerius

Steffi Nerius is a German athlete competing in the javelin throw. She won silver at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens and is the reigning World Champion; she is also a three-time bronze medalist at that level.Initially playing volleyball in school, she was too short for a career in this sport and...

, bronze medalist at the 2003 Worlds, moved up from fourth place to a silver medal with her final throw.

The bronze medal went to the consistent Mirela Manjani

Mirela Manjani

Mirela Manjani is a retired Greek javelin thrower. Prior to 1997 she represented Albania.She won the silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics with a personal best of 67.51 m, and the bronze medal in 2004. Manjani is also a European champion and double world champion. Her personal best throw of...

 of Greece, who had won the 1999 and 2003 World title, and won medals at the last four World Championships. Her final round throw secured the bronze to the delight of the Athenian crowd. In 2005, Menéndez would again win the world title. The sixth-place finisher, Laverne Eve

Laverne Eve

Laverne Eve is a female track and field athlete from the Bahamas, who competes in the javelin throw. Her personal best throw is 63.73 metres, achieved in April 2000 in Nashville. In her early career she also competed in shot put and discus throw...

 of the Bahamas, had won the 1984 Pan American Junior title in the shot put, and was twice a silver medalist in the javelin at the Pan American Games

Pan American Games

The Pan-American or Pan American Games are a major event in the Americas featuring summer and formerly winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Pan American Games are the second largest multi-sport event after the Summer Olympics...

 (1995 and 2003).

Medalists

Schedule

• All times are Eastern European Time
  Eastern European Time
  Eastern European Time is one of the names of UTC+02:00 time zone, 2 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It is used in some European countries that also use Eastern European Summer Time as a summer daylight saving time.- Usage :...
  
   (UTC+2
  UTC+2
  UTC+02 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +02. In ISO 8601 the associated time would be written as . This time is used in:-Central Africa Time:*Botswana*Burundi*Democratic Republic of the Congo...
  
  )

  Qualification Round
  Group A	Group B
  25.08.2004 – 19:00h	25.08.2004 – 20:35h
  Final Round
  27.08.2004 – 20:55h

Abbreviations

Q	automatic qualification
q	qualification by rank
DNS	did not start
NM	no mark
WR	world record
AR	area record
OR	Olympic record
NR	national record
PB	personal best
SB	season best

Records

Standing records prior to the 2004 Summer Olympics
World Record		71.54 m	July 1, 2001	Rethymno Rethymno Rethymno is a city of approximately 40,000 people in Greece, the capital of Rethymno peripheral unit in the island of Crete. It was built in antiquity , even though was never a competitive Minoan centre... , Greece Greece Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
Olympic Record		68.91 m	September 30, 2000	Sydney, Australia
Broken records during the 2004 Summer Olympics
Olympic Record		71.53 m	August 27, 2004	Athens, Greece

Group A

Rank	Overall	Athlete	Attempts			Result	Note
			1	2	3
1	1		64.91	—	—	64.91 m
2	3		59.43	57.35	63.07	63.07 m	NR Ukrainian records in athletics The following are the national records in athletics in Ukraine maintained by the Ukrainian Athletic Federation .-Men:-Women:-Men:-Women:A = affected by altitudeht = hand timing# = not recognised by federation-External links:* * *...
3	4		58.29	62.22	—	62.22 m
4	5		57.67	60.30	62.14	62.14 m
5	7		52.10	59.06	62.05	62.05 m
6	9		59.20	61.18	—	61.18 m
7	10		61.16	—	—	61.16 m
8	11		56.92	X	61.04	61.04 m	SB
9	14		60.58	X	X	60.58 m
10	15		60.41	58.47	56.67	60.41 m
11	18		59.80	55.30	57.03	59.80 m	SB
12	22		54.12	X	58.45	58.45 m
13	23		55.39	58.20	X	58.20 m
14	25		55.89	55.62	57.70	57.70 m
15	27		57.51	57.53	55.47	57.53 m
16	28		56.88	X	X	56.88 m
17	34		54.82	54.92	51.95	54.92 m
18	36		X	50.54	53.93	53.93 m
19	40		47.81	51.42	46.18	51.42 m
20	41		51.23	X	48.11	51.23 m
21	42		49.17	48.20	50.37	50.37 m
22	43		46.00	48.57	48.58	48.58 m
—	—		X	X	X	NM

Group B

Rank	Overall	Athlete	Attempts			Result	Note
			1	2	3
1	2		64.39	—	—	64.39 m
2	6		62.11	—	—	62.11 m	SB
3	8		61.45	—	—	61.45 m
4	12		59.45	60.61	60.97	60.97 m
5	13		60.70	59.08	60.80	60.80 m
6	16		60.20	59.06	54.60	60.20 m
7	17		58.77	58.99	59.94	59.94 m	PB
8	19		56.21	57.88	59.64	59.64 m
9	20		59.11	53.64	X	59.11 m
10	21		58.70	56.81	55.62	58.70 m
11	24		57.76	52.77	53.22	57.76 m
12	26		57.57	54.20	50.28	57.57 m
13	29		56.79	55.26	56.86	56.86 m
14	30		54.43	X	56.34	56.34 m
15	31		55.17	X	X	55.17 m
16	32		49.69	54.65	55.13	55.13 m
17	33		X	53.41	54.96	54.96 m
18	35		52.71	54.45	53.28	54.45 m
19	37		52.97	X	X	52.97 m
20	38		49.86	50.92	52.46	52.46 m
21	39		52.18	X	51.46	52.18 m
22	44		45.93	45.64	43.84	45.93 m

Final

Rank	Athlete	Attempts						Distance	Note
		1	2	3	4	5	6
		71.53	X	65.41	68.60	63.64	—	71.53 m	OR
		63.02	60.58	X	X	63.60	65.82	65.82 m	PB
		62.29	63.61	X	62.20	X	64.29	64.29 m	SB
4		62.46	63.77	64.23	X	63.77	62.55	64.23 m
5		61.93	59.58	60.39	60.32	60.20	63.54	63.54 m
6		57.25	58.09	62.77	58.50	X	59.02	62.77 m	SB
7		62.36	60.64	60.70	62.51	60.41	61.61	62.51 m
8		59.52	57.26	61.75	X	57.39	55.70	61.75 m
9		58.58	60.91	60.53				60.91 m
10		60.72	58.53	60.69				60.72 m
11		58.04	57.42	59.72				59.72 m
12		54.54	56.43	58.22				58.22 m