Andreas Thorkildsen is a retired Norwegian track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He was the Olympic Champion in 2004 and 2008, European Champion in 2006 and 2010, and World Champion in 2009. He is the first male javelin thrower in history to simultaneously be European, World and Olympic Champion. He was also a three-time silver medalist at the World Championships, placing second in 2005, 2007 and 2011. His personal best of 91.59 m, set in 2006, is the Norwegian record.
Gerhardus "Hardus" Pienaar is a South African javelin thrower and former Junior World Champion from South Africa. His personal best throw is 84.50 metres, achieved in October 2003 in Hyderabad. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest javelin throwers in South African history.
Peter Esenwein is a German javelin thrower.
Uwe Hohn is a retired German track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He is the only athlete to throw a javelin 100 metres or more, with his world record of 104.80 m. A new javelin design was implemented in 1986 and the records had to be restarted, thus Hohn's mark became an "eternal world record". He coached Indian track and field athlete Neeraj Chopra, who won the gold in the men's javelin throw at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo.
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.
Braian Ezequiel Toledo was an Argentine javelin thrower who improved the World Youth Best in boys' javelin throw by more than six metres.
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.
Van Rooyen or Van Rooijen is an Afrikaans and Dutch toponymic surname. "Rooij" or "Roij" was a local term for many towns ending with "rode" or "roij", like Nistelrode, Sint-Oedenrode, Stramproy and Wanroij. This suffix itself means "a clearing made by men". Notable people with the surname include:
Jakub Vadlejch is a Czech track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. He is a three-time Olympian for the Czech Republic, having competed in 2012, 2016 and 2020, winning a silver medal in 2020. He also has represented his country six times at the World Championships in Athletics, winning the bronze medal in 2022 and 2023 and silver medal in 2017, and four times a competitor at the European Athletics Championships. He also won the 2016 IAAF Diamond League title.
Dmitriy Sergeyev Tarabin is a Russian track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. His personal best for the event is 88.84 m. He was the winner of the javelin at Summer Universiade and the Russian Championships in 2013. Tarabin previously competed for Moldova and remains the country's national record holder.
Liu Shiying is a Chinese athlete who competes in the javelin throw. She is the first Asian athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in women's javelin throw.
Kelsey-Lee Barber is an Australian track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. She won gold at the 2019 World Championships, and her personal best of 67.70 m ranks her 13th in the overall list.
| imagesize = 200px | caption = Vetter at the 2016 Bislett Games | nationality = German | residence = Offenburg, Germany | birth_date = 26 March 1993 | birth_place = [[
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.
Neeraj Chopra is an Indian track and field athlete, who is the reigning Olympic champion and World champion in Men's javelin throw. He is the first Asian athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in javelin and the first Asian to win gold in his event at the World Championship. A Junior Commissioned Officer Subedar (JCO) in the Indian Army, Chopra is the first track and field athlete to win a gold medal for India at the Olympics. He is also the first track and field athlete from India to win at the World Under-20 Championships, where in 2016 he achieved a world U20 record throw of 86.48 m, becoming the first Indian athlete to set a world record.
Arshad Nadeem is a Pakistani javelin thrower. He represents WAPDA in the domestic competition. He is the first Pakistani to qualify for the final of any track and field event at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships. At the 2022 Commonwealth Games, he created a new national and Commonwealth Games record with a throw of 90.18m and became the first ever athlete from South Asia to breach the 90m mark. In 2023, he became the first ever Pakistani athlete to win a medal at the World Athletics Championships, by winning a silver medal.
The men's javelin throw event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 4 and 7 August 2021 at the Japan National Stadium. Approximately 35 athletes competed; the exact number depended on how many nations use universality places to enter athletes in addition to the 32 qualifying through distance or ranking.
Philip Spies is a retired South African javelin thrower. Primarily a provincial cricketer at school and South African Country District level, chose athletics over cricket. The arrival in South Africa of American World Record Holder, Tom Petranoff was a big deciding factor for Spies with regards to choosing athletics over cricket. Petranoff became an integral part of Spies' athletics career and still regards Petranoff as being one of the great javelin throwers of all time considering that Petranoff held two separate world records: 99.72m with the "Old" model and 85.38m with the "new" model. He became South African Schools champion at 17 years of age and achieved South African Schools Colors in 1988. Versatile sportsman who played on the SA Tennis Union circuit in 1990/ 1991 and reached a best golf handicap of 05 in 2000.
Jason Jullian van Rooyen is a South African athlete who competes in the shot put.
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