Barbora Špotáková First Woman to Score Three Javelin Medals

The Czech star adds bronze to her collection of two golds, earning her a place among the top throwers - male or female - in Olympic history

Dave Park

Written by Dave Park Published on 19.08.2016 11:15:05 (updated on 19.08.2016) Reading time: 1 minute

Daily News
Newsletters sign-up

Barbora Špotáková earned a place in history on Thursday as she won a bronze medal in the women’s javelin throw.

Špotáková previously won gold in Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012. While her quest to take home three consecutive golds came up short, she has become the first woman to win three javelin medals in Olympic history.

Advertisement Colonnade Insurance Category Banner + In Article

The Czech Republic’s Jan Železný holds the overall record, with four Olympic medals (three golds and one bronze) in the javelin throw from 1988-2000.

“It did not look good to me at all, but I gathered some strength, I am not even sure from where,” Špotáková told reporters after the event, as reported by iDnes.cz. 

“Let’s be honest here: an Olympic bronze is not something you get every day. This was the maximum that I could have obtained.” 

With a throw of 64.80m, she came in a mere 2 centimeters ahead of Poland’s Maria Andrejczyk, and 12 centimeters short of the silver, which was won by South Africa’s Sunette Viljoen.

Croatia’s Sara Kolak won the event with a throw of 66.18m.

The bronze gives the Czech Republic a total of eight medals at the 2016 games in Rio, with a gold from judoka Lukáš Krpálek, silver from kayaker Josef Dostál, and five bronzes, three from Czech tennis stars over the weekend, one from rower Ondřej Synek, and another from kayaker Jiří Prskavec for the canoe slalom.  

#in the news
Would you like us to write about your business? Find out more

Other daily news

Advertisement Mortgages - Pagination & End-of article banners

Partner articles

FEATURED JOBS

View all jobs

TRENDING ARTICLES

POPULAR ARTICLES