The men's javelin throw was a track and field athletics

Track and field

Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...

 event held as part of the athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics

Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics

These are the results of athletics competition at the 1912 Summer Olympics. 30 events were contested, all for men only.The athletics programme grew by 4 events since the 1908 Summer Olympics. The 5000 and 10000 metre races were introduced for the first time, as the 5 mile event was eliminated...

 programme. It was the second appearance of the event. The competition was held on Saturday, July 6, 1912.

Twenty-five javelin throwers from seven nations competed.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in metres) prior to the 1912 Summer Olympics.

World Record	61.45(*)	Juho Saaristo Juho Saaristo Julius Juho Saaristo was a Finnish track and field athlete who competed mainly in the javelin throw....	Helsinki Helsinki Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...  (FIN Finland Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside... )	May 25, 1912
Olympic Record	54.83	Eric Lemming Eric Lemming Eric Valdemar Lemming was a Swedish athlete who competed in a wide variety of events.Lemming won a total of 7 Olympic medals over three Olympics including 4 golds....	London London London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...  (GBR Great Britain Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles... )	July 17, 1908

(*) unofficial

Juho Saaristo

Juho Saaristo

Julius Juho Saaristo was a Finnish track and field athlete who competed mainly in the javelin throw....

 set at first a new Olympic record with 55.37 m. Eric Lemming

Eric Lemming

Eric Valdemar Lemming was a Swedish athlete who competed in a wide variety of events.Lemming won a total of 7 Olympic medals over three Olympics including 4 golds....

 improved the record to 57.42 m and finally to 60.64 m. Three days later on July 9, 1912 Juho Saaristo

Juho Saaristo

Julius Juho Saaristo was a Finnish track and field athlete who competed mainly in the javelin throw....

 set a new Olympic record in the two handed javelin throw competition

Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics - Men's two handed javelin throw

The men's two handed javelin throw was a track and field athletics event held as part of the Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics programme. It was the only appearance of the event at the Olympics, along with the other two handed throws. The format of the event was such that each thrower threw...

with 61.00 m.

Results

Saaristo took the lead after the first throw, and made an even better second throw to stay ahead of Lemming. On the third throw, however, Saaristo scratched and Lemming threw his javelin well over 57 metres to take the lead going into the finals, with Kóczán wresting third place from Halme on the final throw to advance as well. While each of the three finalists made improvements in their marks in the final round, no changes in order were made and Lemming's 60.64 metres stood as the new record.

Place	Athlete	Preliminary				Final			Best mark
		1	2	3	Rank	4	5	6
1		53.02	54.78	57.42 OR	1st	60.64 OR	—	59.00	60.64
2		54.75	55.37 OR	—	2nd	56.21	—	58.66	58.66
3		54.06	—	54.99	3rd	—	—	55.50	55.50
4		53.81	54.65	—	4th				54.65
5		52.19	—	52.43	5th				52.43
6		46.56	48.25	52.20	6th				52.20
7		51.98	—	—	7th				51.98
8		48.77	51.33	—	8th				51.33
9		49.20	—	—	9th				49.20
10		47.59	48.01	49.18	10th				49.18
11		—	47.85	—	11th				47.85
12		46.18	46.87	47.61	12th				47.61
13		46.94	—	—	13th				46.94
14		45.14	45.48	46.71	14th				46.71
15		—	44.09	45.67	15th				45.67
16		45.00	45.32	—	16th				45.32
17		—	44.78	44.98	17th				44.98
18		44.50	—	44.66	18th				44.66
19		41.99	43.20	43.71	19th				43.71
20		—	43.21	—	20th				43.21
21		43.18	—	—	21st				43.18
22		—	41.99	—	22nd				41.99
23		41.05	—	—	23rd				41.05
24		—	—	—	24th				None
		—	—	—	24th				None