Pauli Lauri Nevala (born 30 November 1940) is a Finnish 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 ...

er.Pauli Nevala
sports-reference.com His first major international meet was the

1962 European Athletics Championships Year 196 ( CXCVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Dexter and Messalla (or, less frequently, year 949 ''Ab urbe condita ...

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, where he went out in the qualification round. The next year saw him step up to the very upper echelon of javelin throwers with his new personal best (and national record) of 86.33 meters, thrown in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

on 16 July 1963. This was very close to the world record at the time (86.74 m). In the Olympic year 1964 however, Nevala had major problems even breaking 80 meters and did not enter the Tokyo Olympics as a favorite. He cleared the Olympic qualification quite easily while the world record holder,

Terje Pedersen Terje Olav Pedersen (born 9 February 1943) is a former Norwegian javelin thrower. He represented SK Vidar. At the 1960 Summer Olympics he progressed from the qualifying round, but did not start in the final. At the 1964 Summer Olympics he did no ...

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, was knocked out – the first man not to qualify. In the final Nevala threw confidently from the start, and took the lead with his fourth throw of 82.66 m, his best that year. This was eventually enough for a victory, narrowly ahead of Gergely Kulcsár. After the Olympics Nevala's career stagnated. He finished fourth at the

1966 European Athletics Championships The 8th European Athletics Championships were held from 30 August to 4 September 1966 in the Stadium Puskás Ferenc, Nép Stadium in Budapest, Hungarian People's Republic, Hungary. Contemporaneous reports on the event were given in the Glasgow Hera ...

at Budapest. His attempt to defend his Olympic title at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

was cut short in the qualification as his longest throw was controversially declared flat and he failed to advance to the final. In 1969 Nevala's career had a major resurgence, as he finally broke his six-year-old personal best multiple times, culminating in a 91.40 m throw in his home town of

Teuva Teuva ( sv, Östermark) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the South Ostrobothnia region. The population of Teuva is () and the municipality covers an area of of which is inland water (). The population density is . The municipali ...

. At the 1969 European Championships Nevala took the silver medal 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 ...

of the

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. Nevala has later openly attributed this resurgence to

anabolic steroid Anabolic steroids, also known more properly as anabolic–androgenic steroids (AAS), are steroidal androgens that include natural androgens like testosterone (medication), testosterone as well as synthetic androgens that are structurally related ...

s, which were not yet forbidden at the time. In 1970, Nevala was arguably the best javelin thrower in the world winning 50 out of his 55 competitions. He threw over 90 meters in 5 competitions, over 85 meters in 32 competitions and over 80 meters in 52 competitions. His top 10 average of the season was 90.12 m and all-season average 85.86 m. Nevala's personal best of 92.64 m in Helsinki on 6 September 1970 landed only 6 cm short of

Jorma Kinnunen Jorma can refer to: *Jorma (name), Finnish given name *Jorma (album), released by Kaukonen in 1979 *Jorma (wine), a Finnish wine *nowadays in Finnish language ''jorma'' is a very well-known slang word that means penis A penis (plural ''p ...

’s world record. In addition to the world's best performance of the year, Nevala was ranked number one javelin thrower by

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, ...

. Nevala and Kinnunen intentionally fouled all their qualification throws at the 1970 Finnish Championships as a protest against the Finnish Amateur Athletic Association. The protest eventually led to an improved stipend system. Nevala's career suddenly ended in April 1971 when, in his very first competition of the year at

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, ...

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, he injured his shoulder so badly he could never throw seriously again.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nevala, Pauli 1940 births Living people People from Raseborg Finnish male javelin throwers Olympic gold medalists for Finland Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Finland European Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Sportspeople from Uusimaa 20th-century Finnish people 21st-century Finnish people