Norway's Olympic Champion Andreas Thorkildsen Makes the Javelin Trendy

Beijing – “Some days are his, some days are mine,” said Andreas Thorkildsen, when asked about his rivalry with Finn Tero Pitkämäki. But their Olympic days so far belong to the Norwegian Javelin Thrower. In Beijing Thorkildsen defended the gold medal he had won four years ago in Athens. The 26-year-old winner threw an Olympic record of 90.57 metres to take first spot from Ainars Kovals (Latvia), who surprised with a personal best of 86.64m, and Pitkämäki (86.16).

By defending the Olympic gold Thorkildsen is now only one of four javelin throwers in Olympic history who have managed to win their event at two consecutive Olympics. In the early days Sweden’s Eric Lemming (1908 and 1912) as well as Finland’s Jonni Myyrä (1920 and 1924) managed to achieve this feat while of course there is Jan Zelezny (Czech Republic), who is the only one who managed a triple. He won in Barcelona (1992), Atlanta (1996) and Sydney (2000) and could now be followed by Thorkildsen in London 2012

Mr. Thorkildsen changes his javelins literally as the wind changes direction. In Athens, he won gold with a Nemeth 90 but threw a Nordic Airglider to qualify. This year, he paid a visit to Gill's factory in Champaign, Ill., and tried out its OTE. Now all three companies are claiming him, with careful reservations, for their Beijing rosters.

"They shouldn't be so sure," says Ketil Tommernes, the sports director of Norway's athletics federation. "He could throw with any of them." Mr. Thorkildsen might even use a javelin from a local dark horse -- Hebei Dingzhou Huanqui Sport Equipment Factory 4. "Andreas will look at the conditions and he will choose," Mr. Tommernes says. "He's not there to use only one javelin. A javelin isn't a swimsuit."

Neither is a bow and arrow, or a fencing foil, or boxing gloves. But the Olympics crawl with impecunious equipment makers of all stripes touting "teams" of their own. A company that turns out pommel horses might have trouble taking credit for victories. Everybody else is in the game.

UCS Inc., a maker of vaulting poles in Carson City, Nev., crows about winning gold twice at the 2004 Olympics. "What we'd like to do," says Steve Chappell, its production chief, "is do away with the medals ceremony and just hang that medal around the pole."

At least it would spare him from having to cope with athletes, a luxury the javelin makers competing against each other here would appreciate.

"A javelin thrower is a very fussy human being," says Miklos Nemeth, who won gold himself at the 1976 Games in Montreal and began producing javelins in Budapest 20 years ago. "They have their own imaginations about what's right for them," he says. "It practically never accords with the laws of physics and aerodynamics."