Dainis Kūla
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Dainis Kūla (born 28 April 1959 in
Tukums Tukums (; ; ) is a town in Latvia and serves as the administrative center of Tukums Municipality. It is located in the eastern part of the historical region of Courland, and with more than 16,000 inhabitants Tukums is the 13th largest settlem ...
,
Latvian SSR The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Also known as the Latvian SSR, or Latvia) was a Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republic of the Soviet Union from 1940 to 1941, and then from 1944 until 1990. The Soviet occupation of the Bal ...
) is a
Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...
n former
javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown as far as possible. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's de ...
er who represented the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
at the international level for most of his career. He is most famous for controversially winning the gold medal in men's javelin throw at the
1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...
, becoming the second Latvian to achieve this (after Jānis Lūsis). He is also a World Championship bronze medalist, a three-time Soviet Champion and a two-time
Universiade The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a Blend word, portmanteau of the wor ...
champion.


1980 Summer Olympics

Early in the training season for the
1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...
, Kūla threw 90.30 meters and in the run-up to the Olympics, he threw even farther: 92.06 meters, a mark he would never exceed in an official competition. The favorite though was
Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
's formidable Ferenc Paragi, who had thrown a new
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 organizatio ...
of 96.72 in April. At the Olympics in Moscow, Kūla cleared the qualification stage easily but fouled on both of his first two throws in the final. As only the top eight of twelve finalists would be allowed the full six attempts, this meant everything hung on his third throw. Although the third throw flew far, it apparently landed flat and failed to pierce the field, which meant it too should have been ruled illegal. However, in front of the home crowd, the officials raised a white flag indicating that the throw was good; it was measured at 88.88, easily enough to advance him to the last three rounds (indeed taking the lead at that point). On his fourth throw, Kūla threw 91.20 meters, the only mark in the competition to exceed 90 m, giving him the Olympic gold. The silver went to Aleksandr Makarov with a last-round mark of 89.64, giving the Soviet Union both of the top spots, while Wolfgang Hanisch of
East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...
took the bronze medal. The pre-competition favorite Paragi had led the qualification with 88.76, but only managed 79.52 during the first three rounds in the final and had to be content with 10th place, missing the last rounds. With the old javelin design still in use at the time, throws frequently landed flat or ambiguously, resulting in questionable official judgements. Kūla's case has gained particular notoriety as it landed him with an Olympic gold, and also because it could easily be seen as Soviet officials favoring their own athlete. (There were other claims of this occurring in the javelin final, including an allegation that the stadium gates were opened to let helping wind in whenever Soviets were throwing, and that Kūla's important third throw had not only been misjudged but mismeasured as well.) However, none of these controversies resulted in any official protest.


Further career

Kūla won his second major championship medal, a bronze, at the Helsinki World Championships in Athletics of 1983. His best throw in the rainy final was 85.58 meters, only two centimeters short of American Tom Petranoff's silver throw. This was the smallest margin possible at the time not relying on second-best throws as a tie-breaker, as javelin throws have only been officially measured with one centimeter accuracy since 1998. Petranoff, who had thrown a new world record of 99.72 earlier that year, and the eventual winner Detlef Michel of East Germany had been the pre-meet favorites. In 1984, Kūla severely injured his hand and was less successful after the injury. In 1988 he was released from the Soviet team, however he continued to compete internationally up until the
1993 World Championships in Athletics The 4th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held in the Neckarstadium, Stuttgart, Germany between 13 and 22 August with the participation of 187 nations. Having or ...
in
Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...
, by then representing his native Latvia. He failed to achieve any noticeable success there, as none of his throws crossed the 75 meter line.


References

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kula, Dainis 1959 births Living people Sportspeople from Tukums Latvian male javelin throwers Soviet male javelin throwers Athletes (track and field) at the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for the Soviet Union Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union World Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) FISU World University Games gold medalists for the Soviet Union Medalists at the 1981 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 1983 Summer Universiade