The Finns’ successful sport is being revolutionized – a historic turning point took place in the javelin throw at the World Championships, which is also based on a Finnish export product

28.8.2004. Olympic Stadium, Athens, Greece.

Breaux Greer looks disappointed at the scoreboard of the men’s javelin final. The American javelin star’s first-round throw, 74.36, also remains his best, as the next two throws end up in the record as overstepped.

There are 11 European throwers ahead of Greer on the results list. Andreas Thorkildsen celebrates an Olympic victory in a competition whose list of results is full of European medalists and 90m throwers: Thorkildsen, Andrei Makarov, Vadim Vasilevskis, Steve Backley, Tero Pitkämäki and Jan Zelezny.

23/07/2022. Hayward Field, Oregon, USA.

12 men are preparing for the javelin final at Eugene’s athletics sanctuary. Five of them are from Europe.

The majority of the participants in the finals therefore come from other than the old continent. The reigning world champion, who took the American record from Greer in Grenada Anderson Peters has thrown 89.91 in his first qualifier and the reigning Olympic champion, India Neeraj Chopra shook 88.39 meters.

The seven are completed by the Egyptian giant and the World Cup bronze medalist Ihab AbdelrahmanJapanese Gang Deanhost country Curtis Thompsonof Pakistan Arshad Nadeem and Indian Rohit Yadav.

Europe is tight, though Keshorn Walcott (Trinidad & Tobago) and Julius Yego (Kenya) miss the qualification.

Among the finalists, only Peters has thrown the javelin over the mythical 90-meter mark in his career.

Men’s javelin has long been a sport dominated by Europeans. Of the 33 World Cup medals awarded between 1983 and 2007, only three slipped outside of Europe: the USA’s Tom Petranoff threw silver in Helsinki 1983, South Africa Marius Corbett gold in Athens 1997 and Greer bronze in Osaka 2007.

In the Olympics, Europeans took all the medals from the 1976 Montreal Games until Beijing 2008. Australian Jarrod Bannister was sixth as the best non-European when Andreas Thorkildsen celebrated his second Olympic gold in Beijing.

The situation almost came to a head the very next year in Berlin, when Kuban Guillermo Martinez took World Cup silver and Japan Yukifumi Murakami bronze. However, that was only the prelude.

The real jackpot hit in London 2012, when Walcott took the gold medal right in front of the Europeans.

When Yego still threw for the world championship in Beijing 2015 accompanied by Abdelrahman, they were the reigning Olympic champion and world champion for the first time ever from outside Europe. Now the situation has happened again, thanks to Chopra and Peters.

Although Yego and Walcott missed the javelin final in Oregon, the non-European throwers are still the biggest advance favorites for the final.

India’s Olympic hero Chopra and Grenada’s world champion Peters threw hard shows on the table in the qualifying with their only throws. Finland’s hope for a javelin medal rests by Oliver Helander and Lassi Etelätalo shoulders, but the competition is fierce – and will not get any easier if the current internationalization trend continues.

– Winning the javelin medal is always harder and harder, states the javelin coach of the Finnish Sports Association Petteri Piironenwho has previously coached Julius Yegos, a 90-meter thrower.

– Even at the top of the world, the level of results is gradually getting higher, as the hobby base grows wider and wider.

Piironen’s claim can also be confirmed by looking at the value competition results from ten years ago. Keshorn Walcott’s Olympic gold came off in London 2012 with an 84-meter throw, which would have been enough for sixth place in Tokyo last year.

– If there were a handful of 87-meter throwers during the whole season in the piston years, now there are quite a few throwers capable of medal results. The condition of the day matters even more these days. The basic level has to be tough if you want to win a medal. Individual ghost throws do not give any guarantee that a medal would be taken, says Piironen about the world level.

The new masters of the javelin throw have put new countries from Asia and the Caribbean on the world map of athletics. Piiros has a theory as to why this is so.

– After all, this is a damn sexy sport. When rough men are nibbling on a stick, why wouldn’t it be of interest in different parts of the world, Piironen grins.

New countries are really rising to the top of the athletics world. Chopra’s Olympic gold was independent India’s first athletics medal, while Walcott’s medals were Trinidad & Tobago’s only medals in field sports. Of Kenya’s 106 Olympic medals in athletics, 105 have come from the track, with the only exception being Yego’s silver in Rio.

The Internet has made javelin throwing a global sport in the 21st century, says Piironen.

– Social media makes the sport known all over the world and training knowledge also spreads at the same time.

Many of the sport’s new success countries, for example India and Pakistan, also have a strong cricket background.

– The cricket pass throw is biomechanically very consistent with the javelin throw performance. Out of the millions of cricketers, not all make it to the national team, so some may stray to try the javelin, like Chopra. The potential in India is still huge, Piironen estimates.

The international growth of javelin also plays a part in European coaching expertise becoming available to more and more people.

Today, Piironen, who works with the Finns in Kuortane, was an essential factor in making Julius Yego and Ihab Abdelrahman Olympic and World Cup medalists.

Efforts have also been made for the growth of javelin throwing in the International Athletics Federation. In the winter of 2011–12, Yego arrived at Piironen’s school in Kuortane as a scholarship holder of the International Federation and already threw in the Olympic final the following fall.

– I have worked a lot with international athletes and raised athletes from countries less familiar with javelin throwing to the top of the world. I guess you can take a little credit for the internationalization of the last decade.

– I think it’s great for javelin that the sport is practiced widely and that throwers come from all over.

Piironen is by no means Finland’s only export product in javelin coaching. Esa Utriainen has previously coached in Great Britain and Qatar, among others, Kari Ihalainen again whipped Breaux Greer’s throw to the right of the 90-yard line.

According to Piironen, knowledge of coaching in the world is variable.

– There are good, competent coaches and then there are talented athletes who have all kinds of coaches in the background. On the other hand, yes, every athlete who throws a javelin far has a competent coach in the background. It’s not quite a coincidence, Piironen estimates.

In Piironen’s opinion, the understanding of the sport and the coaching skills are still the strongest in the former powerhouses of javelin in Finland and Germany. Training centers and coaches also attract athletes.

– The appreciation of the sport in Finland and Germany is at such a level that it is nice to come to these countries to train and talk about javelin throwing. The environment is such that in Finland, for example, it is nice to train when the sport is respected.