Jan Železný is a Czech former track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He is a World and Olympic champion and holds the world record with a throw of 98.48 metres. Widely considered the greatest javelin thrower of the modern era, he also has the fourth, fifth and sixth best performances of all time. He broke the world record a total of four times.
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.
Paavo Ilmari Yrjölä, also known as the Bear of Hämeenkyrö, was a Finnish track and field athlete who won the gold medal in the decathlon at the 1928 Summer Olympics. He also competed in shot put and high jump at the same Games, and in decathlon in 1924 and 1932, but less successfully.
Jānis Lūsis was a Latvian track and field athlete who competed in javelin throw.
Mirela Maniani is a Greek retired track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. She was named the Greek Female Athlete of the Year for 2003.
Akilles "Aki" Eero Johannes Järvinen was a Finnish decathlete. He competed at the 1928, 1932 and 1936 Olympics and won two silver medals, in 1928 and 1932; he served as the Finnish flag bearer at all three games. He also won a European silver medal in the 400 m hurdles in 1934.
The United States of America has sent athletes to every celebration of the modern Summer Olympic Games with the exception of the 1980 Summer Olympics, during which it led a boycott in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee for the United States.
Kinue Hitomi was a Japanese track and field athlete. She was the world record holder in several events in the 1920s – 1930s and was the first Japanese woman to win an Olympic medal. She was also the first woman to represent Japan at the Olympics.
Eric Otto Valdemar Lemming was a Swedish track and field athlete who competed at the 1900, 1906, 1908 and 1912 Olympics in a wide variety of events, which mostly involved throwing and jumping. He had his best results in the javelin throw, which he won at the 1906–1912 Games, and in which he set multiple world records between 1899 and 1912. His last record, measured at 62.32 m, was ratified by the International Association of Athletics Federations as the first official world record.
Eugene G. Oberst was an American football player, track and field athlete, coach of football and basketball, and college athletics administrator. Oberst was born the youngest of eleven children. A native of Owensboro, Kentucky, he played football at the University of Notre Dame in the 1920s under coach Knute Rockne, and competed in track and field as a javelin thrower. He won the Olympic bronze medal at the 1924 Summer Games in Paris. Oberst served as the head football coach at Washington and Lee University (1929–1930), Canisius College (1931–1932), and John Carroll University (1946).
Venne "Verner" Järvinen was a Finnish track and field athlete, who competed mostly in throwing events. He won the gold medal in the Greek-style discus in the 1906 Intercalated Games, and the bronze in the 1908 Summer Olympics, becoming the first Finnish Olympic medalist in athletics. He won the Finnish championship in Greek style discus three times in 1909–1911 and held the national record in discus and hammer throw.
Móric "Mór" Kóczán was a Slovak–Hungarian athlete and Calvinist pastor. Specialized for the throwing events, his best results came in the javelin throw, having won five Hungarian championship titles between 1911 and 1918. Kóczán competed for Hungary at the 1908 Summer Olympics and 1912 Summer Olympics. He produced his best performance in 1912 by winning the bronze medal in the javelin throw event.
Béla Szepes was a Hungarian skier, athlete, graphic designer and journalist. He competed at the 1924 Winter Olympics and won the silver medal in the javelin throw in the 1928 Summer Olympics. He captured seven Hungarian Athletics Championships and three British Athletics Championships titles.
Greece has risen to prominence in a number of sporting areas in recent decades. Football in particular has seen a rapid transformation, with the Greece national football team winning the UEFA Euro 2004. Many Greek athletes have also achieved significant success and have won world and olympic titles in numerous sports during the years, such as basketball, wrestling, water polo, athletics, weightlifting, with many of them becoming international stars inside their sports. The successful organisation of the Athens 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games led also to the further development of many sports and has led to the creation of many world class sport venues all over Greece and especially in Athens. Greek athletes have won a total 169 medals for Greece in 17 different Olympic sports at the Summer Olympic Games, including the Intercalated Games, an achievement which makes Greece one of the top nations globally, in the world's rankings of medals per capital
Doral William Pilling was a Canadian athlete who competed in the 1928 Summer Olympics.
Trinidad and Tobago competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012. This was Trinidad and Tobago's most successful Summer Olympics. It was the nation's largest ever delegation sent to the Olympics, with a total of 30 athletes, 21 men and 9 women, in 6 sports. Trinidad and Tobago's participation in these games marked its sixteenth Olympic appearance as an independent nation, although it had previously competed in four other games as a British colony, and as part of the West Indies Federation. The nation was awarded four Olympic medals based on the efforts by the athletes who competed in the track and field. Javelin thrower Keshorn Walcott became the first Trinidadian athlete to win an Olympic gold medal since the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, where Hasely Crawford won for the sprint event. Marc Burns, a four-time Olympic athlete and a relay sprinter who led his team by winning the silver medal in Beijing, was the nation's flag bearer at the opening ceremony.
Philip Einar Olsen was a Canadian athlete, a javelin thrower who competed in the finals in the 1976 Summer Olympics and won a gold medal at the 1978 Commonwealth Games. One of the most decorated track and field athletes in Canada, Olsen still holds numerous provincial and national records in the javelin.
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.
Kosaku Sumiyoshi was a Japanese track and field athlete. He represented his country twice at the Summer Olympics and was the first Asian to compete in the Olympic javelin throw. He was a three-time gold medallist at the Far Eastern Championship Games and the only person to win two javelin titles at the competition.
