Jānis Doniņš (born 20 April 1946) is a Latvian- American former

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 wom ...

er. Competing for the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, he won the silver medal at the

1971 European Athletics Championships The 10th (X) European Athletics Championships were held from 10 August to 15 August 1971 in the Olympic Stadium of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. Contemporaneous reports on the event were given in the Glasgow Herald. Men's results ...

behind

Jānis Lūsis Jānis Lūsis (19 May 1939 – 29 April 2020) was a Latvian track and field athlete who competed in javelin throw. Biography Lūsis trained at Daugava Voluntary Sports Society and later at Armed Forces sports society. He competed in four Sum ...

Career

Doniņš placed sixth in the javelin throw at the 1969 European Championships in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

with a throw 79.10 m (259 ft 6 in). He won his event at the 1971 United States vs. Soviet Union dual meet in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...

with 89.33 m (293 ft 1 in), a meeting record and his personal best. At the European Championships later that year in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

he threw 85.30 m (279 ft 10 in) and placed second behind his teammate Jānis Lūsis. ''

Track & Field News ''Track & Field News'' is an American monthly sports magazine founded in 1948 by brothers Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, focused on the world of track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running ...

'' ranked Doniņš tenth in the world in 1969 and second in 1971. He was one of the favorites for the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

, but suffered a career-ending knee injury in training in February 1972.

Personal life

Doniņš met Kathy Keefe, an American, on a competition trip to the United States in 1969. They married in 1972 and lived in the

until 1974, when she left for America with their daughter. Soviet authorities didn't allow Doniņš to leave with them at the time, but they relented in 1975 and he rejoined his family in California.

References

1946 births Living people Latvian male javelin throwers Soviet male javelin throwers American people of Latvian descent European Athletics Championships medalists {{Latvia-athletics-bio-stub