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. 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.

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 RoundTuesday, 7 August 2012 10:00QualificationsThursday, 9 August 2012 21:00Finals

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

World record72.28 mStuttgart, Germany13 September 2008Olympic record71.53 mAthens, Greece27 August 20042012 World leading69.35 mNew York City, United States9 June 2012

Results

Qualifying round

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

Rank Group Name Nationality #1 #2 #3 Result Notes1 A Barbora Špotáková 66.19 – – 66.19 Q2 A Christina Obergföll 66.14 – – 66.14 Q3 B Sunette Viljoen 65.92 – – 65.92 Q4 A Linda Stahl 64.78 – – 64.78 Q SB5 B Lü Huihui 64.45 – – 64.45 Q DSQ A Martina Ratej x 63.60 – 63.60 Q DSQ B Maria Abakumova 63.25 – – 63.25 Q8 B Ásdís Hjálmsdóttir 62.77 – – 62.77 Q 9 B Katharina Molitor 58.06 55.30 62.05 62.05 Q10 A Madara Palameika 60.62 60.50 57.91 60.62 q11 A Elizabeth Gleadle x 59.73 60.26 60.26 q12 B Kathryn Mitchell 60.11 57.80 59.84 60.11 q13 A Līna Mūze 51.15 59.48 59.91 59.91 14 B Jarmila Klimešová 56.76 59.90 x 59.90 15 A Brittany Borman 54.31 56.50 59.27 59.27 16 B Yuki Ebihara 59.25 58.03 54.17 59.25 17 A Kimberley Mickle 59.23 57.77 x 59.23 18 B Indre Jakubaityte 54.05 56.63 59.05 59.05 SB19 B Vera Rebrik x 58.97 x 58.97 20 B Sinta Ozoliņa-Kovala x 58.86 51.35 58.86 21 A Laila Ferrer e Silva 51.66 52.61 58.39 58.39 22 B Hanna Hatsko 58.37 56.02 55.94 58.37 23 A Zhang Li 57.17 58.35 x 58.35 24 B Rachel Yurkovich 54.20 x 57.92 57.92 25 A Noraida Bicet 54.08 54.56 57.77 57.77 26 A Tatjana Jelača 52.58 x 57.09 57.09 27 B Sávva Líka 56.36 57.06 x 57.06 28 A Marharyta Dorozhon 56.74 55.18 50.60 56.74 29 B Yainelis Ribeaux 53.70 56.55 x 56.55 30 B Li Lingwei 55.28 x 56.50 56.50 31 A Kara Patterson 56.23 x x 56.23 32 A Flor Ruiz x 54.34 52.37 54.34 33 B Maryna Novik 51.93 50.77 54.31 54.31 34 B Leryn Franco 51.45 x 49.72 51.45 35 B Anastasiya Svechnikova 50.56 51.27 x 51.27 36 B Vanda Juhász 49.90 50.01 x 50.01 37 A Elisabeth Eberl x x 49.66 49.66 38 A Kristine Harutyunyan 47.65 x x 47.65 A Yanet Cruz x x x A Goldie Sayers x x x B Sanni Utriainen x x x A Yusbelys Parra

Final

Rank Name Nationality #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 Result Notes Barbora Špotáková 66.90 66.88 66.24 69.55 x x 69.55 WL Christina Obergföll 65.16 x x x x x 65.16 Linda Stahl 59.49 63.24 62.67 64.91 x x 64.91 SB 4 Sunette Viljoen 64.53 62.71 57.30 57.05 60.93 62.61 64.53 5 Lü Huihui 59.97 63.28 58.58 61.26 63.70 62.19 63.70 6 Katharina Molitor 62.89 58.15 58.51 x x x 62.89 DSQ Martina Ratej x 58.89 61.62 x 60.11 56.90 61.62 7 Madara Palameika 56.47 60.73 x 59.32 x 59.22 60.73 8 Kathryn Mitchell 58.31 59.46 58.45 – – – 59.46 DSQ Maria Abakumova x 59.34 58.70 – – – 59.34 9 Ásdís Hjálmsdóttir 59.08 57.35 x – – – 59.08 10 Elizabeth Gleadle 57.10 x 58.78 – – – 58.78

References