Women Javelin Throw Athletics I World Championship 1983 Helsinki, Finland - Saturday 13.08

Women Javelin Throw Athletics I World Championship 1983 Helsinki, Finland - Saturday 13.08 - Gold Medal: Tiina Lillak, Finland

Final 19:00		Distance	1.	2.	3.	4.	5.	6.
1. Tiina Lillak	FIN	70.82m	67.34	59.04	63.24	63.56	67.46	70.82
2. Fatima Whitbread	GBR	69.14m	69.14	X	64.48	X	61.78	X
3. Anna Verouli	GRE	65.72m	X	61.74	62.38	63.08	65.72	X
4. Tessa Sanderson	GBR	64.76m	64.76	63.66	63.94	64.10	64.00	59.74
5. Eva Raduly-Zorgo	ROU	63.86m	63.38	60.32	57.36	60.92	63.86	61.80
6. Tuula Laaksalo	FIN	62.44m	50.50	62.44	X	56.52	X	59.04
7. Beate Peters	FRG	62.42m	59.22	X	62.42	X	59.30	X
8. Maria Caridad Colon	CUB	62.04m	61.52	62.04	56.96	57.34	57.88	56.32
9. Petra Felke-Meier	GDR	62.02m	X	61.82	62.02
10.Karin Smith	USA	59.76m	56.76	X	59.76
11.Antje Kempe-Zollkau	GDR	58.82m	58.82	X	54.84
12.Mayra Vila	CUB	57.80m	57.60	53.72	57.80

Women Jvelin Throw History

The capacity crowd of 54,700 had high expectations of the Finnish world record holder Lillak, who led the qualifying round at 69.16. Whitbread, meanwhile, had only just recovered from tonsilitis and scraped into the final in 12th place.
One brilliant throw from each of these two women provided a final of high drama. The first of these came in the opening round, when Whitbread went near to her personal best with 69.14. Lillak threw 67.34, while another Briton, Sanderson, went into third at 64.76.
Three full rounds followed with none of the principals improving. It became increasingly clear that Whitbread’s opening effort was not only an excellent throw in the conditions, but that it might hold up for victory. In the fifth round, Verouli replaced Sanderson in third place. Lillak improved marginally to 67.46 so was left with just one more chance.
Whitbread passed her final throw with a sore back and could barely watch as Lillak prepared for her final effort. The crowd was deafening as the spear left her hand, then went berserk went it landed at 70.82. Sanderson was still to throw but Lillak sprinted round a victory halflap. The Briton managed only 59.74 and Finland’s first gold was confirmed. “Not technically perfect,” said Lillak of her winning throw, “but there was enough force behind it to go over 70m.”

Qualification - Friday 12.08

Mark 62.00m 10+2 Athletes

Group A		Dist.	1.	2.	3.
1. Tessa Sanderson	GBR	64.80m	64.80	-	-
2. Petra Felke-Meier	GDR	64.46m	60.08	57.80	64.46
3. Mayra Vila	CUB	62.78m	53.44	60.46	62.78
4. Tuula Laaksalo	FIN	62.06m	62.06	-	-
5. Karin Bergdahl	SWE	60.64m	60.64	X	59.14
6. Ingrid Thyssen	FRG	59.70m	58.84	56.16	59.70
7. Elena Burgarova	TCH	58.48m	57.30	58.48	56.40
8. Monique Lapres	CAN	54.70m	51.48	54.70	48.70
9. Xiaoli Xin	CHN	52.52m	49.70	44.62	52.52
10.Jennifer Pace	MLT	41.96m	40.72	41.96	41.52
-. Sofia Sakorafa	GRE	DNS

Group B		Dist.	1.	2.	3.
1. Tiina Lillak	FIN	69.16m	58.14	69.16	-
2. Anna Verouli	GRE	68.50m	68.50	-	-
3. Antje Kempe-Zollkau	GDR	62.74m	62.74	-	-
4. Eva Raduly-Zorgo	ROU	61.92m	61.92	59.14	60.54
5. Karin Smith	USA	61.48m	61.48	58.90	58.92
6. Beate Peters	FRG	61.18m	57.10	60.00	61.18
7. Maria Caridad Colon	CUB	60.98m	60.98	X	55.08
8. Fatima Whitbread	GBR	60.96m	X	57.34	60.96
9. Fausta Quintavalla	ITA	59.34m	59.34	53.68	58.00
10.Emi Matsui	JPN	55.52m	X	55.52	53.10
11.Mereoni Vibose	FIJ	49.44m	49.00	48.48	49.44
12.Norsham Yoon	MAS	40.40m	40.40	X	37.00