Jan Železný

Jan Železný (born 16 June 1966 in Mladá Boleslav, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech javelin thrower, world and Olympic champion and world record holder in javelin throw. He holds all five of the top 5 javelin performances of all time.

Železný won the gold at the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympic Games and Silver in the 1988 Olympics as well as three World Championship titles; in 1993, 1995 and 2001. Because of his achievements he is widely considered to be the greatest javelin thrower ever.

Železný holds the world record, at 98.48 metres (323' 1") set in 1996, and the World Championships record of 92.80 m, set in 2001. As of 1 August 2005, Železný has made 52 throws over 90 meters, more than all other javelin throwers combined (32). He is also the only athlete to throw more than 94 meters with the new type of javelin, something he achieved five times.

During his career he has had many great battles against the like of Steve Backley, Sergey Makarov, Boris Henry, Seppo Räty, Raymond Hecht and Aki Parviainen.

He planned to retire after the 2006 European Championships in Gothenburg, where he won the bronze with a throw of 85.92 m. He took leave of his career on 19 September 2006 on exhibition in Mladá Boleslav, the place where he started with athletics.

source: Wikipedia