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After sustaining a shoulder injury in 1998 which threatened to end his
career, Jan Zelezny made a remarkable return to javelin competition in
1999, finishing third at that year's World Championships, and going on
the following year to win his third consecutive Olympic title at the age
of 34. It seemed that age was no barrier at all to Zelezny and he
continued to be a dominant force in the event during 2001. Zelezny's
last few seasons prior to 2001 had been characterised by him achieving
his longest throws in the early part of the year, with his distances
gradually waning as the season progressed. In 2001, Jan's distances
were relatively consistent throughout the year, and if anything, his
longer throws tended to come towards the end of the season.
At Ostrava,
on 31 May, Zelezny gained a significant victory over old rival Steve
Backley (Great Britain) with a throw of 89.47m. He followed this eight
days later at Poznan with a throw of 91.24m, his longest since resuming
competition after his 1998 injury. At the World Championships held in
Edmonton later that year, the 35-year old Zelezny made people sit up and
take notice when he threw a massive 90.76m in the qualifying round on
10 August, breaking his own Championships record set in 1995 at
Gothenburg. In the final held two days later, the defending champion
and 2001 season leader, Aki Parviainen (Finland) made an eye-opening
start to proceedings by throwing 91.31m on his first attempt, while
Zelezny's first throw of 81.76m found him languishing in fourth place.
No javelin thrower in history had thrown as far as Parviainen and not
been the winner of the competition, until Zelezny (see photo above) rifled his second round throw out to an amazing 92.80m to shatter Parviainen's hopes, and record his third world title. (Ron Casey)
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