Women Javelin Throw Athletics XVI Olympic Games Melbourne, Australia 1956 - -- November - Gold Medal: Ineze Jaunzeme, Soviet Union
Final
Distance
1. Ineze Jaunzeme
URS
53.86m
2. Marlene Ahrens
CHI
50.38m
3. Nadezhda Konyayeva
URS
50.28m
4. Dana Zatopkova
URS
49.83m
5. Ingrid Almqvist
SWE
49.74m
6. Urszula Figwer
POL
48.16m
7. Erzsebet Vigh
HUN
48.07m
8. Karen Linnea Anderson
USA
48.00m
9. Anna Wojtaszek
POL
46.92m
10.Erika Raue
GER
45.87m
11.Marjorie Larney
USA
45.27m
12.Yoriko Shida
JPN
44.96m
13.Almut Brommel
GER
44.67m
14.Amelia Wershoven
USA
44.29m
Qualification Round
mark 43.00m
Not Qualified
-. Paola Paternoster
ITA
-. Heather Innis
AUS
-. Ida Margaret George
CAN
-. June Margaret Heath
AUS
-. Maureen Faye Wright
AUS
Ineze Jaunzeme was third in the 1956 Soviet Championships, and
would never do better. But in Melbourne she was dominant, with four
throws further than the second best thrower. Her best throws of 53.40
and then 53.86 were both Latvian records, and she became the first ever
gold medallist from that country, though a part of the USSR at the time.
The surprise of the competition was the silver medal for Ahrens, who
had ranked only 19th before the Games, and was the only Chilean
female ever to win an Olympic medal.