| The favorite to win the womens javelin throw in London was the 33 year old Austrian Herma Bauma. She held the official world record of 48,21 m set in 1947 a throw that had, however, been superseeded by two throwers from the Soviet Union, Lyudmila Anokhina (48,39 m in 1945) and Klavdia Mayuchaya (50,32 m in 1947). In 1948 the Soviet Union was not a member of the international athletics association and therefore the two results could not be recorded as official world records.
15 javelin throwers were on the starting list on July 31 when the event took place. The Finn Kaisa Parviainen held the front position for a long time but in her final throw Herma Bauma made 45,57 m and thereby overtook Parviainens lead by almost two meters. Bauma thereby secured the gold medal, Kaisa Parviainen won silver with 43,79 m and the bronze was won by Dane Lily Carlstadt with 42,08 m. Dorothy Dodson from the USA came fourth in front of the two Dutch throwers Johanna Teunissen Waalboer and Johanna Koning.
Herma Baumas gold medal was well deserved. She had, apart for the Soviet throwers, been the leading javelin thrower in many years since she took fourth place in the Berlin Olympics in 1936. Baumas winning throw in London was a new Olympic record and topped German Tilly Fleischers record from the Berlin summer games by 39 cm.
Dana Ingrova from Czechoslovakia took 7th place in the competition. She would later become a much more famous athlete by winning the Olympic gold four years later in Helsinki as mrs. Zatopek. |
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