The 2004
European Winter Throwing Challenge was held on 13 and 14 March at
St. John Athletic Stadium in
Marsa, Malta
Marsa ( mt, Il-Marsa) is a town in the South Eastern Region of Malta, with a population of 4,401 people as of March 2014. The name Marsa means " the harbour". . It was the fourth edition of the
athletics
Athletics may refer to:
Sports
* Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking
** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport
* Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...
competition for throwing events organised by the
European Athletics Association
The European Athletic Association (more commonly known as European Athletics) is the governing body for athletics in Europe. It is one of the six Area Associations of the world's athletics governing body World Athletics. European Athletics has 51 ...
. The 2004 event was the last to use the challenge name, as subsequent editions were known as European Cup Winter Throwing events. A total of 147 athletes from 28 countries entered the competition.
The competition featured men's and women's contests in
shot put
The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...
,
discus throw
The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiqui ...
,
javelin throw
The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the ...
and
hammer throw
The hammer throw is one of the four throwing events in regular track and field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and javelin.
The "hammer" used in this sport is not like any of the tools also called by that name. It consis ...
. Athletes were seeded into "A" and "B" groups in each competition. Russia topped the points table in the women's and men's division of the team competition. With four medals, it shared the greatest medal haul alongside Germany, which was runner-up in the points table but was the only nation to have two winners from the eight events on offer.
The host nation, Malta, had only one athlete at the event – men's javelin thrower
Jean Paul Callus. Callus broke the
Maltese record with his opening throw, recording a new best mark of for his country. The weather was not conducive to high standard performances and Callus gave the sole record performance of the challenge.
European Winter Throwing Challenge
IAAF (2004-03-15). Retrieved on 2013-11-16.
Five athletes went on to take medals at the 2004 Athens Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...
: Eşref Apak was a bronze medallist, Vadims Vasiļevskis
Vadims Vasiļevskis (born 5 January 1982) is a retired Latvian track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He won silver at the 2004 Summer Olympics. His personal best throw of 90.73 m, set in 2007, is the Latvian record. In 2008 ...
, Nadine Kleinert and Steffi Nerius took Olympic silver, and Natalya Sadova became the Olympic champion in women's discus. Despite going on to this success, among these only Vasiļevskis was a winner in the European Winter Throwing Challenge.
Medal summary
Men
Women
Medal and points table
*Team points given for nations with at least three athletes in a gender category
Participation
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References
;Results
4th European Cup Winter Throwing Results
RFEA. Retrieved on 2013-11-16.
Euro Chall Marsa MLT 13 - 14 March
Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 2013-11-16.
{{European Athletics cups
European Throwing Cup
European Cup Winter Throwing The European Throwing Cup (until 2016 European Cup Winter Throwing) is an annual continental athletics competition for athletes specialising in the events of discus, javelin and hammer throwing and the shot put. The winter event, organised every ...
Athletics in Malta
2004 in European sport
European Cup Winter Throwing The European Throwing Cup (until 2016 European Cup Winter Throwing) is an annual continental athletics competition for athletes specialising in the events of discus, javelin and hammer throwing and the shot put. The winter event, organised every ...
2004 in Malta