The women's

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 ...

at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

took place on 19–21 August at the

Beijing National Stadium The National Stadium (), also known as the Bird's Nest (), is an 80,000-capacity stadium in Beijing. The stadium was jointly designed by architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron from Basel-based architecture team Herzog & de Meuron, p ...

. The qualifying standards were 60.50 m (A standard) and 56.00 m (B standard).

Mariya Abakumova Mariya Vasiliyevna Abakumova (russian: Мария Васильевна Абакумова; born 15 January 1986) is a Russian former track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. Career Abakumova discovered her love for athletics a ...

held the lead from her first throw, with

Barbora Špotáková Barbora Špotáková (; born 30 June 1981) is a former Czech track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. She is a two-time Olympic Champion and three-time World Champion, as well as the current world record holder with a throw of ...

the only other competitor within 3 metres. Abakumova improved to 70.78 on her fourth throw.

Christina Obergföll Christina Obergföll (; born 22 August 1981) is a retired German track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. She was World Champion in 2013. Her personal best throw of 70.20 m is the German record. It also ranks her fifth on t ...

took third place, and

Goldie Sayers Katherine Dinah "Goldie" Sayers (born 16 July 1982), is a former British javelin thrower, who won a bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics. She was born in Newmarket, Suffolk, United Kingdom. On 20 May 2007, Sayers set a new British record ...

took fourth (with a British national record); both of these positions were gained from their first round throws with no improvement thereafter. Then Špotáková threw 71.42 on her final throw to win the gold medal, with Abakumova taking silver. Eight years after the competition, the

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

retested samples from the event in connection with the

Russian doping scandal Systematic Doping in sport, doping of Sport in Russia, Russian athletes has resulted in 48 Olympic medals stripped from Russia (and Russian associated teams), four times the number of the next highest, and more than 30% of the global total. Russi ...

. Mariya Abakumova tested positive for

chlorodehydromethyltestosterone Chlorodehydromethyltestosterone (CDMT; brand name Oral Turinabol), also known as 4-chloro-17β-hydroxy17α-methylandrosta-1,4-dien-3-one, is an anabolic–androgenic steroid (AAS). It is the 4-chloro-substituted derivative of metandienone (dehyd ...

(turinabol), so she was disqualified and stripped of her silver medal, which was reallocated to Christina Obergföll. On 26 July 2018, the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; french: Tribunal arbitral du sport, ''TAS'') is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its co ...

(CAS) confirmed the award of the bronze medal to Goldie Sayers.

Schedule

All times are

China standard time The time in China follows a single standard time offset of UTC+08:00 (eight hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time), even though the country spans almost five geographical time zones. The official national standard time is called ''Beijing Tim ...

(

UTC+8 UTC+08:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +08:00. With an estimated population of 1.708 billion living within the time zone, roughly 24% of the world population, it is the most populous time zone in the world, as well as a ...

)

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows: No new world or Olympic records were set for this event.

Results

Qualifying round

Qualification: 61.50 (Q) or at least 12 best performers (q) advance to the final.

Final

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Women's javelin throw Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics Javelin throw at the Olympics 2008 in women's athletics Women's events at the 2008 Summer Olympics