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Czech Republic's veteran Javelin Thrower Jan Zelezny looks on as he takes a photo for another gold medal in his fruitful career.  (Photo by Mark Lee/Allsports)
 
 

Zelezny ruled the world for 20 years
 Wednesday September 20, 2006

During an international career spanning 20 years Jan Zelezny consistently out-performed the best javelin throwers in the world while collecting an unprecedented haul of Olympic and world titles.

The 40-year-old Czech, who threw competitively for the last time in his home town of Mlada Boleslav on Tuesday, won gold at the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games after finishing second at the 1988 Seoul Games.

He also won three world titles and holds the current world record of 98.48 metres and the Olympic mark of 90.17.

Zelezny, whose father Jaroslav and mother Jana were both javelin throwers, first competed at handball before turning to the javelin which he threw 44.44 metres at the age of 13.

He went to Seoul as the world record holder but finished second to Finland's Tapio Korjus, the last thrower in the last round. After losing his world record to Britain's Steve Backley, he regained the mark in 1990 and set another world record of 94.74 metres in 1992 with the new Nemeth javelin which was later ruled illegal.

In the same year he won the first of his three Olympic titles and in 1993 he added 4.08 metres to Backley's world mark with 95.54 in Pietersburg, South Africa. He improved the record by 0.02 of a metre in Sheffield, England, later in the season.

Zelezny, who was one of the first group of 10 active athletes to be elected to the International Olympic Committee in 1999, confirmed he was the greatest javelin thrower of all time when he edged Backley to win his third Olympic gold at the 2000 Sydney Games with a record throw.

He threw 82.19 metres with his final competitive effort on Tuesday while Queen's "We are the champions" played on the loudspeakers.

"I got much from sports, more than I ever expected," Zelezny told reporters. "Now is the time to return something back. Now I will be on the opposite side."

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