Defending champion Trine Hattestad was throwing well in 1995 but by the time of Gothenburg was five months pregnant
and did not compete for obvious reasons. This left Shikolenko as the favourite to add gold to her 1993 bronze, and
she did just that. She had the best qualifying effort (65.46) and took the lead in the final with her first throw of
66.48. No-one could approach that, though the Belarus thrower did go better with 67.56 in the final round. The woman
who was beaten in the last round at the Barcelona Olympics then waited anxiously for the three remaining finalists to
close their accounts.
World Record: Petra Felke-Meier (GDR) 80.00m 09.09.88 Potsdam, East Germany
European Championship Record: Ftima Whitbread (GBR) 76.64m 06.09.87 Rome, Italy
Season Best: Steffi Nerius (GDR) 68.42m 25.06.95 Villeneuve d'Ascq, France.