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Fatima Whitbread had laid claim to be the best javelin thrower in the
world in 1986, breaking the world record of Petra Felke (East Germany)
in the qualifying round of the European Championships, and then
defeating Felke to win the title the next day with another throw beyond
the previous record. Whitbread continued to dominate during 1987, but
it wasn't totally one-sided, as Felke also had a successful season.
Between them, Whitbread (on 12 occasions) and Felke (14 occasions) were
the only two throwers to exceed 70 metres during 1987. However, despite
their dominance over the rest of the world, they only met on two
occasions during the year. The first of these was at Oslo on 4 July,
where Whitbread prevailed with the third longest throw in history of
76.34m, behind only her own two throws at the previous year's European
Championships.
However, on 29 July, Felke regained her world record
with a throw 78.90m, further raising the sense of anticipation for her
next confrontation with Whitbread at the World Championships in Rome.
Meanwhile, Whitbread had not completely recovered from a shoulder injury
she sustained at Oslo, which further tipped the scales in the German's
favour. After leading the qualifiers at Rome on 5 September, Felke's
opening throw of 70.30m gave her the lead after round one in the final
held the following day. She increased her lead to 71.76m in round two,
before Whitbread assumed the lead when she threw 73.16m on her fourth
attempt. Whitbread put the result beyond doubt on her next attempt,
throwing 76.64m, to win the competition by nearly five metres.
Obviously elated by her victory (see photo above), the new world
champion had produced the third longest throw in history, inferior only
to Felke's world record, and her own superseded one set the previous
year. (Ron Casey)
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