Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's javelin throw explained

Event:	Women's javelin throw
Games:	2012 Summer
Venue:	Olympic Stadium
Date:	7–9 August
Competitors:	42
Nations:	29
Gold:	Barbora Špotáková
Goldnoc:	CZE
Silver:	Christina Obergföll
Silvernoc:	GER
Bronze:	Linda Stahl
Bronzenoc:	GER
Win Label:	Winning distance
Win Value:	69.55
Prev:	2008
Next:	2016

The Women's javelin throw competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom. The event was held at the Olympic Stadium on 7–9 August.^[1] Each athlete receives three throws in the qualifying round. All who achieve the qualifying distance progress to the final. If less than twelve athletes achieve this mark, then the twelve furthest throwing athletes reach the final. Each finalist is allowed three throws in last round, with the top eight athletes after that point being given three further attempts.^[2]

The qualifying round was mostly automatic marks. Eight athletes hit the auto mark in their first legal attempt. It took 60.11 to make the final.

The final was dominated by defending champion and world record holder Barbora Špotáková who took the lead on the first throw of the competition, a lead she would never relinquish. On the second throw of the competition Sunette Viljoen got off her best throw, which would put her in third place. Later in the round, Christina Obergföll got off her only legal throw, which turned out to be the silver medal throw. Each round Špotáková kept putting out long throws, but didn't improve. In the fourth round, Linda Stahl passed Viljoen to move into bronze medal position. Then Špotáková let loose the winner, her 69.55—more than 2.5 metres further than her previous bests—which won the competition by 4.39 metres. None of the medalists even got a legal throw in the final two rounds. Any one of Špotáková's four legal throws would have won the gold medal.

Schedule

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)

Date	Time	Round
Tuesday, 7 August 2012	10:00	Qualifications
style=background:lemonchiffon	Thursday, 9 August 2012	style=background:lemonchiffon	21:00	style=background:lemonchiffon	Finals

Records

, the existing world record, Olympic record, and world leading mark were as follows:

World record	72.28 m	Stuttgart, Germany	13 September 2008
Olympic record	71.53 m	Athens, Greece	27 August 2004
2012 World leading	69.35 m	New York City, United States	9 June 2012

Results

Qualifying round

Qual. rule: qualification standard 62.00m (Q) or at least best 12 qualified (q).

Rank	Group	1	2	3	Result	Notes
1	A	66.19	–	–	66.19	Q
2	A	66.14	–	–	66.14	Q
3	B	65.92	–	–	65.92	Q
4	A	64.78	–	–	64.78	Q SB
5	B	64.45	–	–	64.45	Q
6	A	x	63.60	–	63.60	Q
DSQ	B	63.25	–	–	63.25	Q
8	B	62.77	–	–	62.77	Q
9	B	58.06	55.30	62.05	62.05	Q
10	A	60.62	60.50	57.91	60.62	q
11	A	x	59.73	60.26	60.26	q
12	B	60.11	57.80	59.84	60.11	q
13	A	51.15	59.48	59.91	59.91
14	B	56.76	59.90	x	59.90
15	A	54.31	56.50	59.27	59.27
16	B	59.25	58.03	54.17	59.25
17	A	59.23	57.77	x	59.23
18	B	54.05	56.63	59.05	59.05	SB
19	B	x	58.97	x	58.97
20	B	x	58.86	51.35	58.86
21	A	51.66	52.61	58.39	58.39
22	B	58.37	56.02	55.94	58.37
23	A	57.17	58.35	x	58.35
24	B	54.20	x	57.92	57.92
25	A	54.08	54.56	57.77	57.77
26	A	52.58	x	57.09	57.09
27	B	56.36	57.06	x	57.06
28	A	56.74	55.18	50.60	56.74
29	B	53.70	56.55	x	56.55
30	B	55.28	x	56.50	56.50
31	A	56.23	x	x	56.23
32	A	x	54.34	52.37	54.34
33	B	51.93	50.77	54.31	54.31
34	B	51.45	x	49.72	51.45
35	B	50.56	51.27	x	51.27
36	B	49.90	50.01	x	50.01
37	A	x	x	49.66	49.66
38	A	47.65	x	x	47.65
	A	x	x	x
	A	x	x	x
	B	x	x	x
	A

Final

Rank	1	2	3	4	5	6	Result^[3]	Notes
	66.90	66.88	66.24	69.55	x	x	69.55	WL
	65.16	x	x	x	x	x	65.16
	59.49	63.24	62.67	64.91	x	x	64.91	SB
4	64.53	62.71	57.30	57.05	60.93	62.61	64.53
5	59.97	63.28	58.58	61.26	63.70	62.19	63.70
6	62.89	58.15	58.51	x	x	x	62.89
7	x	58.89	61.62	x	60.11	56.90	61.62
8	56.47	60.73	x	59.32	x	59.22	60.73
9	58.31	59.46	58.45	–	–	–	59.46
DSQ	x	59.34	58.70	–	–	–	59.34
11	59.08	57.35	x	–	–	–	59.08
12	57.10	x	58.78	–	–	–	58.78

Notes and References

Web site: Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics . 2012-05-11 . 2012-09-05 . https://archive.today/20120905092430/http://www.london2012.com/athletics/about/ . dead .
Web site: Women's Javelin throw competition format. London 2012 Organising Committee. 13 June 2012. 5 June 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120605000754/http://www.london2012.com/athletics/event/women-javelin-throw/competition-format/index.html. dead.
Web site: London 2012 javelin throw women Results - Olympic athletics. 2012-08-09. 2013-01-04. https://archive.today/20130104000946/www.london2012.com/athletics/event/women-javelin-throw/phase=atw053100/index.html. dead.