Thomas Röhler became the first German thrower since 1972 to win an Olympic GOLD medal in the men’s Javelin on Day 9 of Track and Field at the Rio 2016 Games.
Klaus Wolfermann had won the title at the Munich Games, doing so in an Olympic Record (OR) of 90.48m, and 24-year old Röhler followed suit, winning the event at the Estádio Olímpico on August 20 with a mark of 90.30m, which he secured at his fifth attempt.
Röhler’s winning mark is the second farthest in the world this year, behind his World Lead (WL) and Personal Best (PB) of 91.28m set in June. As such, the German holds the world’s Top 3 marks in the event this year and has had an impressive 2016, save for his 5th place finish at the European Championships last month.
Röhler kicked off competition with 87.40m in the first round, putting him in 2nd place behind reigning World Champion Julius Yego who recorded a Season’s Best (SB) of 88.24m on his first attempt.
The German subsequently threw 85.61m, 87.07m and 84.84m before his monster throw at his fifth attempt. Incidentally, this is Röhler’s first medal of any colour at a major competition, and he will certainly return to Germany with fond memories of his exploits in Brazil.
The Kenyan’s first throw was good enough for Silver, having succumbed to an injury during his second throw and could not build on his previous feat. Yego may not be too disappointed with the Silver medal, considering it’s the continent’s first Olympic Javelin medal in history.
Defending Champion Keshorn Walcott from Trinidad and Tobago settled for the Bronze medal, finishing ahead of Röhler’s teammate Johannes Vetter (85.32m) with a distance of 85.38m. Ukraine’s Dmytro Kosynskyy was 5th with a PB of 83.95m.
