Marius CORBETT

Marius Corbett made a significant mark on the international javelin throwing scene during his career, although no doubt his impact would have been greater if it hadn't been for the unfortunate injuries he sustained. In 1994, Marius won the javelin gold medal at the World Junior Championships in Lisbon on 24 July with a throw of 77.98m, which established a new African junior record. Two weeks later, he added the African junior title with a throw of 74.42m at the Championships in Algiers. However, despite this promising start, Marius shortly afterwards sustained elbow and shoulder injuries, which were so serious that he contemplated discarding the javelin and returning to play rugby. As a consequence, Corbett missed the entire 1995 season, before tentatively returning to competition in 1996, reaching a seasonal best of 74.94m.

This was just a prelude to Corbett's sensational year in 1997, when he achieved a huge increase in his personal best at an early season meet, improving to 83.90m. Despite this improvement, Marius was not considered a serious threat at the World Championships held later that year in Athens as 18 of the other competitors had longer personal bests. However, Marius easily qualified at Athens, and in the final held on 5 August, he caused a sensation when he took the lead in the competition with his second round throw of 88.40m, improving his personal best by a whopping 4.50m to set a new African record. Marius proved this was no fluke when he threw 87.40m on his next attempt. When none of his more experienced fellow competitors were able to reach either of these throws, it was obvious that Corbett (see photo above) had become the new world champion. Later that month he easily won the javelin at the World University Games with another big throw of 86.50m. (Ron Casey)

Marius Corbett made a spectacular elevation to the top ranks of the world's javelin throwers when he improved his personal best by 4.50m to win the 1997 world title in Athens. The silver medallist at Athens, Steve Backley (Great Britain), together with Jan Zelezny (Czech Republic) had dominated the event during the 1990s. Zelezny missed the 1998 season due to injury, but it was not plain sailing for Backley in his absence, as he still had to contend with the precocious Corbett, who produced a big throw of 87.12m early in the year when he won the South African national title at Germiston on 7 March. However, at the World Cup in Johannesburg on 13 September, Corbett's best throw of 83.53m could only earn him fourth place, and it was over five metres short of Backley's winning throw of 88.71m.

The two met again at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur on 21 September, where Backley was attempting to win his third consecutive title. However, Backley found himself upstaged by Corbett, who won the gold medal with a new personal best and African record of 88.75m ahead of Backley's second place effort of 87.38m. In 1999, Corbett achieved a season's best of 87.17m at Pietersburg on 13 March, but when attempting to defend his title at the World Championships in Seville he could only manage 76.34m in the qualifying round on 27 August, and failed to advance to the final. A back injury prevented Corbett from competing at both the 2000 Olympic Games and 2001 World Championships and also restricted his performances in both those seasons. He produced a best throw of 83.43m in 2000, but at the British Grand Prix in London (Crystal Palace) on 5 August (see photo above) he was unable to reach 80 metres, and finished well down the field. (Ron Casey)