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Although Jan Zelezny had demonstrated his superiority over the rest of
the world's javelin throwers when he won the 1992 Olympic gold medal by
over three metres, the one thing he lacked to totally dominate the event
was the world record, which had been set at 91.46m by his perennial
rival Steve Backley (Great Britain) in January 1992. Zelezny wasted
little time in the 1993 season in addressing this deficiency, when he
threw 95.54m at a meet in Pietersburg, South Africa on 6 April to better
Backley's mark by over four metres. Not unexpectedly, Zelezny was an
overwhelming favourite to win the gold medal at the World Championships
held later that year in Stuttgart, although as it eventuated, the result
was not a foregone conclusion.
Although Jan headed the qualifiers on
15 August (see photo above) with a throw of 83.22m, he initially
struggled in the final held the following day, and at the end of round
three, he was only in fourth place with a best throw of 81.86m. His
fourth throw of 83.82m moved him into second place, and he assumed the
lead with a throw of 85.98m in round five, which in the end, proved good
enough to win him the gold medal. Only two weeks after the World
Championships, at an international meet in Sheffield, Zelezny's second
throw of 95.34m fell a mere 20cm short of the world record he had set in
April.
However, Jan's throw had almost landed in the protective
netting at the end of the landing area for the javelin, and the
officials decided to move the netting back, resulting in a 15-minute
delay to the competition. This turned out to be quite a fortunate
decision, as on his very next throw after the resumption of competition,
Zelezny set a new world record of 95.66m. (Ron Casey)
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