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.
Stephen James Backley, OBE is a retired British track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He formerly held the world record, and his 91.46-metre (300.1 ft) throw from 1992 is the British record. During his career, he was a firm fixture in the British national athletics team. He won four gold medals at the European Championships, three Commonwealth Games gold medals, two silvers and a bronze at the Olympic Games, and two silvers at the World Championships. Currently, he is an occasional commentator for athletics competitions, especially the field events.
Sergey Aleksandrovich Makarov is a retired Russian track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. His personal best throw of 92.61 m, set in 2002, is the Russian record. Facing tough competition throughout his career from Jan Železný, Steve Backley and others, Makarov did not win any major competition until 2003, when he became World Champion at the age of 30.
Aki Uolevi Parviainen is a retired Finnish track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He won the gold medal at the 1999 World Championships and the silver medal at the 2001 World Championships. His best throw of 93.09 m, set in 1999, is the Finnish record and ranks him fourth on the overall list. His best Olympic placing was fifth, which he achieved in 2000.
Raymond Hecht is a German track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. His personal best throw is 92.60 m, achieved in 1995. This places him eighth on the all-time rankings.
Gavin Brian Lovegrove is a retired New Zealand track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. His personal best of 88.20 m, set in 1996, is the New Zealand record. During his career, he twice represented his homeland at the Summer Olympics, won a bronze medal at three consecutive Commonwealth Games and participated in five World Championships. He also twice broke the world junior record and was a six-time national champion.
Stuart James Farquhar is a male javelin thrower from New Zealand. He was the silver medallist in the men's javelin at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
Vítězslav Veselý is a Czech javelin thrower. He won two bronze medals at the Olympic games, in 2012 and 2020.
Petr Frydrych is a Czech track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. His personal best of 88.32 m was set at the 2017 World Championships, where he won the bronze medal. He is coached by world record holder and three-time Olympic Champion Jan Železný.
Julius Yego is a Kenyan track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. Nicknamed "Mr. YouTube" because he learned how to throw by watching YouTube videos of javelin athletes, Yego is the African record holder for the event with a personal best of 92.72 m.
Sean Furey is an American Olympic javelin thrower with a personal best of 83.08 meters. He has placed in the top three at the U.S. National Championships six times, winning the javelin event in 2010, 2014 and 2015. He represented the United States in international competition between 2009 and 2016, including 2 Olympic, 2 World Championship and 2 Pan American teams. In 2009, at the World Championships in Berlin, Germany, Sean qualified for the final with a season best throw and ultimately finished 12th.
The men's javelin throw at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Beijing National Stadium on 24 and 26 August.
Johannes Vetter is a German athlete who competes in the javelin throw. He won gold at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics. His personal best of 97.76 m is the German record, and ranks him second on the overall list. Vetter currently trains under Boris Obergföll and is a member of LG Offenburg's track and field squad. He was previously with SV Saar 05 Saarbrücken and Dresdner SC.
Magnus Kirt is an Estonian retired athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He won the silver medal at the 2019 World Championships. His personal best of 90.61 m is the Estonian record.
West Germany (–1990)
