70 m.p.h.
Considering the size of the javelin, which about 8-1/2 feet for men and 7-1/2 feet for women, a release speed anywhere near 70 m.p.h. is impressive. To achieve this, the athletes are sprint along a runway measuring about 30 yards long. The men’s Olympic record in the event is a 297 ft 2 in. toss by Norway’s Andreas Thorkildsen, the two-time Olympic champion, in 2008. That’s nearly length of the oval running track infield. The women’s Olympic record of 245 feet was set in 1988 by East Germany’s Petra Felke.
