| Jan is pictured above during the Javelin final at the 2004 Olympic Games
in Athens. He finished back in ninth place with a throw of 80.59m and,
at the age of 38, announced his retirement from major competition
shortly after. In a glittering career he dominated the Javelin event at
the Olympics between 1992-2000, winning the Gold medal on each occasion.
For good measure he also won a silver medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics,
missing out on the Gold by just 16cm. There were also Golds at the
1993, 1995 and 2001 World Championships as well as bronzes in 1987 and
1999. Strangely, Jan enjoyed little success at the European
Championships, winning just a bronze medal in 1994. The competition
between Zelezny and Britain's Steve Backley will be remembered as one of
sports great rivalries and Backley had this to say of Jan shortly after
he had seen the 2000 Olympic Gold snatched from his grasp by the Czech.
"I'm privileged to be competing with Zelezny, no doubt about that, " he
said. "I excelled myself. I lost the battle but I excelled myself
because of Jan." Jan had been expected to retire in 1998 after sitting
out the entire season with a serious injury but such was the
determination of the man that he bounced back to win a bronze the
following year and then those further Golds in 2000 & 2001. He will
surely go down as the greatest Javelin thrower in history. |