Felke became the only woman in history to throw 80m when she
reached that exact distance less than three weeks before Seoul. She
trailed her great rival Whitbread in the qualifying round 68.44 to 67.06,
as the list of non-qualifiers included ’84 medallists Sanderson and
Lillak, as well as Verouli and Solberg. Felke settled the matter of the
gold medal quickly in the final with the first Olympic 70m throw –
72.62 – to overtake Koch’s 67.30. Whitbread then threw 67.46 in the
second round with Kostyuchenkova reaching 67.00 later that round to
solidify the first four places. Felke followed the Ukrainian with the
winning throw of 74.68, which was the last improvement of the top
four, until Whitbread’s final two throws of 67.82 and 70.32.