Thomas Alan Petranoff (born April 8, 1958) is a retired American

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete who competed in the

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 ...

. He held the

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

(old implement javelin) from May 1983 to July 1984; his 99.72 m (327 ft) throw was almost the length of an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

field (. During his career, he was a silver medalist at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in 1983 and represented the United States at the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

in 1984 and 1988. He transferred to South Africa in the 1990s and was twice a winner at the

African Championships An African Championship is a top level international sports competition between African athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. List of Championships ;Athletics *African Championships in Ath ...

. His personal best with the new implement javelin is . In the final years of his career, he returned to the United States and won a medal at the

1999 Pan American Games The 1999 Pan American Games, officially the XIII Pan American Games or the 13th Pan American Games, was a major international multi-sport event that was held from July 23 to August 8, 1999, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and surrounding towns and ...

Career

Petranoff's world record added precisely three meters to the previous global standard of 96.72 m, set in 1980 by Hungary's

Ferenc Paragi Ferenc Paragi (21 August 1953 – 21 April 2016) was a Hungarian athlete who, on 23 April 1980 established a world record of 96.72 meters in the javelin throw, eclipsing the global standard set by fellow countryman Miklós Németh at the 1976 Su ...

. Petranoff's effort fueled further discussion and speculation regarding the likelihood of alterations to the javelin's design and flight characteristics. Propelled by the need to shorten distances and the then frequent flat or ambiguous landings (which resulted in many controversial official judgements), a change to a new design finally took effect in April 1986. By then,

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

Uwe Hohn Uwe Hohn (born 16 July 1962) is a retired German track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He is the only athlete to throw a javelin 100 metres or more, with his world record of . A new javelin design was implemented in 1986 a ...

had greatly improved Petranoff's mark with a throw of 104.80 meters. This throw came after the changes had been officially proposed and (unlike Petranoff's record) was not a driving cause of the change. Petranoff's mark with the old javelin design was never exceeded by any throw other than Hohn's mark. He also did well with the new design; his personal best of 89.16, thrown at

Potchefstroom Potchefstroom (, colloquially known as Potch) is an academic city in the North West Province of South Africa. It hosts the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University. Potchefstroom is on the Mooi Rivier (Afrikaans for "pretty river" ...

, South Africa on March 1, 1991, was at the time the second best ever (excluding marks thrown with a soon-to-be-banned "rough-tailed javelin" that had been introduced by

Miklós Németh Miklós Németh (, born 24 January 1948) is a retired Hungarian economist and politician who served as Prime Minister of Hungary from 24 November 1988 to 23 May 1990. He was one of the leaders of the Socialist Workers' Party, Hungary's Communi ...

), behind only

Steve Backley Stephen James Backley, OBE (born 12 February 1969) is a retired British track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He formerly held the world record, and his throw from 1992 is the British record. During his career, he was a ...

's world record of 89.58 m. In 1984, Petranoff won the Superstars championship with a record score of 61 points. He qualified for the United States Olympic Team, but finished a disappointing 10th in the final in Los Angeles. A native of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, Petranoff later became a citizen of South Africa and competed for that country in various international competitions.

Personal life

Petranoff is also the inventor of the "Turbo Javelin." This implement is used for javelin practice, especially of the indoor kind. Made of heavy-duty plastic and a rubber tip, the turbo javelin is very safe and ideal for indoor practice, and makes a good substitute for younger throwers as the official javelin can be dangerous. It is now used in its own competitions for people of all ages and is great for recreation departments and much more. The world record holder with the turbo javelin is

Breaux Greer Breaux Greer (born October 19, 1976) is a retired American track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. After attending Ouachita Parish High School and the University of Louisiana at Monroe, he went on to be the current American r ...

of the U.S.A. Petranoff now lives in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

; he has coached for institutions such as

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

International competitions

References

External links

Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Petranoff, Tom 1958 births Living people Sportspeople from Aurora, Illinois Track and field athletes from Illinois American male javelin throwers South African male javelin throwers South African masters athletes Olympic track and field athletes of the United States Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States Athletes (track and field) at the 1999 Pan American Games World Athletics Championships athletes for the United States World Athletics Championships athletes for South Africa World Athletics Championships medalists American emigrants to South Africa World record setters in athletics (track and field) Goodwill Games medalists in athletics Competitors at the 1986 Goodwill Games Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games