NEW DELHI: It was 1984 when the German legend Uwe Hohn threw a distance of 104.80 meters on the Olympic Day of Athletics in Berlin.
With this majestic throw, Hohn broke the world record of 99.72 m, set by Tom Petranoff from the USA in 1983. To date, Mock is the only man who has thrown the spear over 100 m. And this record, experts say, will never be broken.
So Hohn’s record became “forever”.
Hohn’s record breaking throw made administrators sit up and see that they had to do something to shorten the distances that the javelin thrower was thrown by the male throwers.
Because of this, the men’s spear was redesigned in 1986 so that the center of gravity was shifted forward 4 cm (1.5748 inches). The move was made mainly because the male throwers in stadiums threatened to cross the space available for throwing the javelin and enter the lane area, thereby endangering other athletes and officials.
What this also did was negate the frequent shallow and ambiguous landings that were a major headache for officers measuring distances in the field. Due to its previous length, center of gravity, etc., the spear would often not sink into the ground after landing.
With the redesigned spear, the nose began to sink earlier and steeper, reducing the throwing distance by almost 10%.
As a result of this redesign, new records had to be entered with the newly designed spear. Hohn’s monster record of 104.80 m became immortal.
No javelin thrower has managed to touch the three-digit mark after the introduction of the new javelin design.
Jan Zelezny from the Czech Republic holds the current world record (with the newly designed javelin) of 98.48 meters. The four-time Olympic champion Zelezny reached the milestone in 1996.
The number 1 in the world, Johannes Vetter from Germany, threw a majestic 97.76 meters in 2020, but could not break Zelezny’s record. Vetter, who finished 9th at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, is second on the overall list of world record holders.
The women’s spear was redesigned in 1999.
SPEAR:
WEIGHT & SIZE (spear for men): The men’s spear (spear) must weigh at least 800g and should be 2.6m-2.7m long
WEIGHT & SIZE (ladies spear): The women’s spear (spear) must weigh 600g and should be 2.2m-2.3m long.
TOP 10 BEST DINNER THROWS IN THE WORLD (MEN SENIOR OUTDOOR DINNER THROWS) – WITH REDESIGNED SPEELIN
98.48 m – Jan Zelezny from the Czech Republic – May 1996 (world record)
97.76 m – Johannes Vetter from Germany – September 2020
93.90 m – Thomas Rohler from Germany – May 2017
93.09 m – Aki Parviainen from Finland – June 1999
92.72 m – Julius Yego from Kenya – August 2015
92.61 m – Sergey Makarov from Russia – June 2002
92.60 m – Raymond Hecht from Germany – July 1995
92.06 m – Andreas Hofmann from Germany – June 2018
91.69 m – Konstadinos Gatsioudis of Greece – June 2000
91.59 m – Andreas Thorkildsen from Norway – June 2006
