Lillian Copeland was an American track and field Olympic champion athlete, who excelled in discus, javelin throwing, and shot put, setting multiple world records. She has been called "the most successful female discus thrower in U.S. history". She also held multiple titles in shot put and javelin throwing. She won a silver medal in discus at the 1928 Summer Olympics, a gold medal in discus at the 1932 Summer Olympics, and gold medals in discus, javelin, and shot put at the 1935 Maccabiah Games in Mandatory Palestine.
József Várszegi was a Hungarian athlete who competed in the javelin throw. Among his best results are a European Championships bronze medal from 1938 and an Olympic Games bronze from 1948. Várszegi won the Hungarian national championships a record 20 times between 1932 and 1952 and also broke the Hungarian national record six times during his career.
At the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, 29 athletics events were contested. It was the first time the 50 kilometres race walk appeared in the athletic program at the Games. This was the second time women's events in athletics were included in the Olympic Games program and the first time that women competed in the javelin throw and 80m hurdles at the Olympics. There was a total of 386 participants from 34 countries competing.
Ottilie "Tilly" Fleischer was a German athlete who competed in a variety of track and field athletic events. She competed for Germany in the 1932 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles in three different events, taking the bronze medal in the javelin. Four years later in her home country at the 1936 Games she won the gold medal in the javelin in front of the Berlin crowds.
Marion Becker is a German athlete who competed mainly in the javelin throw.
Dorothy Lucille Dodson was a distinguished American track and field athlete whose career spanned the late 1930s through late 1940s; Dodson's specialty was the throwing events. From 1939 to 1949—with the exception of 1940—Dodson participated in every U.S. AAU Outdoor National Championships.
Ingrid Anna Thyssen is a retired West German javelin thrower.
Lee Marion Bartlett was an American javelin thrower. He competed at the 1928, 1932 and 1936 Olympics and placed 16th, 5th and 12th, respectively.
Ellen Sprunger is a Swiss track and field athlete.
Laila Ferrer e Silva Domingos is a Brazilian javelin thrower. She competed in the javelin throw event at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Marharyta Serhiïvna Dorozhon is an Israeli javelin thrower. Born and raised in Ukraine, she competed for that country until she became an Israeli citizen in 2014.
Alessandra Nobre Resende is a Brazilian javelin thrower. She is a two-time Ibero-American and a four-time South American champion for her category. Resende, however, narrowly missed out of the medal podium, when she placed fifth in the final at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, with a best throw of 57.95 metres.
Maria "Marie" Dollinger-Hendrix was a German track and field athlete who competed in sprinting events and the 800 metres. She represented Germany at three consecutive Olympic Games: 1928, 1932 and 1936.
Gottfried Weimann was a German javelin thrower. He placed fourth at the Olympic Games in 1932 and ninth in 1936.
The javelin throw at the Summer Olympics is one of four track and field throwing events held at the multi-sport event. The men's javelin throw has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since 1908, being the last of the current throwing events to feature at the Olympics after the shot put, discus throw and hammer throw. The women's event was first contested at the 1932 Olympics, becoming the second women's throws event after the discus in 1928.
Combined events at the Summer Olympics have been contested in several formats at the multi-sport event. There are two combined track and field events in the current Olympic athletics programme: a men's decathlon and a women's heptathlon.
Johanna Freda Gertrude Wilhelmsen was an American track and field athlete and softball player. She represented the United States at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, placing seventh in the women's javelin throw and eighth in the discus throw.
Nan Gindele Bauman was an American athlete, excelling in basketball, softball, and track and field. She set the world record in javelin in 1932, which was not broken until six years later. She competed in the 1932 Summer Olympics, the first year that javelin was a women's event at the Olympics. Gindele played on the first two national champion women's softball teams, the Great Northern Laundry team of 1933 and the Hart Motors Girls in 1934. In basketball, she competed throughout the 1930s on many of the top women amateur teams.
Masako Shinpo was a Japanese track and field athlete. She competed in the women's javelin throw at the 1932 Summer Olympics.
Gloria Russell was an American athlete. Competing in the javelin throw, she finished sixth at the 1932 Summer Olympics. Nationally she placed second in 1928, third in 1932 and fourth in 1929. In 1928–29 she was voted California Girls' State Athlete of the Year. Besides athletics Russell played softball for the J. J. Krieg women's team, which won the national title in 1938 and 1939. In 1929 she also won the national title in the baseball throw. Russell was severely injured in June 1931, when she was hit by a javelin.
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