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Maria Colon underwent a rapid and successful development as an
international javelin thrower, which led to her winning an Olympic gold
medal at only 22 years of age. In 1978, Maria won the javelin title at
the Central American and Caribbean Games with a throw of 63.40m. The
following year she won the Pan-American title at San Juan, and in the
World Cup at Montreal on 24 August, she won the bronze medal with a
throw of 63.50m. Colon made a rapid improvement in her distances in the
early part of the 1980 European season, reaching personal bests of
65.64m on 1 June, followed by 66.80m on 3 June, and finally 68.04m on 6
June, less than two months before the Olympic Games in Moscow. This
last mark moved her to 7th on the all-time world list, but of the six
throwers ahead of her on the list, five would compete against her in
Moscow.
In the Olympic final, on 25 July, Colon produced a massive
opening throw of 68.40m, setting a new Olympic record. While Maria had
produced another personal best, her more highly credentialed opponents
were all below their previous form at Moscow, and it transpired that
Maria's opening throw earned the delighted Cuban (see photo above)
an Olympic gold medal. Colon only finished 8th at the 1983 World
Championships in Helsinki, but in the following year, she improved her
personal best to 69.96m less than two months before the Olympic Games in
Los Angeles. Unfortunately, she was denied the opportunity to defend
her Olympic crown due to a Cuban boycott. Maria produced her career
best throw of 70.14m at Havana on 15 June 1986, and although she had a
season's best of 67.44m in 1988, she was denied her last chance of
Olympic competition at Seoul due to another boycott by the Cuban
government. (Ron Casey)
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