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To mark the end of our ‘2007 in review' series we thought we would have one final fling and bask in the glory of the outstanding success of Europe's female throwers...SummaryEuropes best throwers cleaned up in Osaka, bringing home nine out of a possible 12 medals in the women's throwing
2007 in review: Women’s Throws
To mark the end of our ‘2007 in review' series we thought we would have one final fling and bask in the glory of the outstanding success of Europe's female throwers…
Summary
Europes best throwers cleaned up in Osaka, bringing home nine out of a possible 12 medals in the women's throwing events. Only one gold went outside of Europe, when Valerie Vili (NZL) won the Shot Put with her last round throw, nudging Nadzeya Ostapchuk (BLR) into the silver podium position.
In the women's discus there were no big surprises, as Germany's Super Vet, Franka Dietzsch, won yet another gold medal, and 2006 European Champion Darya Pishchalnikova took silver, proving that her surprise win in Gothenburg 2006 was not just a one-off. In Hammer there was a big upset for many athletes and sports pundits, as 24-year-old German, Betty Heidler, recorded a famous win of only 2cm (74.76m to 74.74m) over Cuban favourite, Yipsi Moreno. While in the Javelin, European record holder Christina Obergföll (GER), who surprised the crowds in 2005 by achieving World silver, again surprised the crowds, but this time by conceding her much anticipated Gold medal to the Czech Republic's, Barbora Spotakova. Spotakova set a Czech record of 67.07m to become the World Javelin Champion of 2007.
Shot Put
27-year-old Belarussian Nadzeya Ostapchuk is one of the most consistent European Shot Put specialists, having thrown over 20m for five consecutive seasons now. The Belarussian was producing consistently high performances even as a Junior, where she won the 1998 gold medal at the World Junior Championships and then won the 1999 European Junior and 2001 European U23 Championships too. However like many athletes, it took her a couple of years before getting reaching the podium at a senior level. She was 7th at the 2001 World Championships and 5th at the 2002 European Championships, but 2003 marked the turning point in Ostapchuk's career, when she reaching the 20m line for the first time outdoors at the World Championships and won the silver medal to prove it.
Ostapchuk has gone on to throw over 20m in three successive World Championships and won the title in 2005 with silvers in 2003 and 2007. She missed a medal at the 2004 Olympics by a very small margin, then at the European Championships in Gothenburg she finished in second place. The Belarussian had a good season in 2007, coming to Osaka with the leading season's best result of 20.34m, she lead the World Championships final until the very last round where Valerie Vili was able to overtake her with her last throw of 20.54m. Ostapchuk answered, but her 20.48m season's best fell just short of the gold. However, she made amends later at the World Athletics Final beating the New Zealander with a big 20.45m winning throw.
Petra Lammert (GER) cracked the 20m limit for the first time this season throwing 20.04m, but while she finished fifth in Osaka, another German, Nadine Kleinert, added a bronze medal to her two silvers from 1999 and 2001.
Discus
Franka Dietzsch continued her unbelievable career with yet another gold medal in Osaka. The 40-year-old German retained her Helsinki 2005 title with the discus hitting the ground at almost exactly the same place as it did in Helsinki. She won with a 66.61m first throw in Osaka and 66.56m in Helsinki – taking Dietzsch's World title tally to three. 2007 proved to be a very impressive season for Dietzsch, who won 15 out of her 18 competitions. This year the feisty 40-year-old is looking to add the missing metal to her medal collection, with an Olympic gold predicted in Beijing.
Other than Dietzsch, it was a relatively quiet year for Discus throwing, but again, like in 2006, Darya Pishchalnikova (RUS) found her best form at a major championship. The young Russian won the 2006 European Championships with a personal best of 65.55m and almost repeated that accomplishment in Osaka setting another best distance of 65.78m, but this time it was only enough for a silver medal.
Hammer
The women's Hammer season started with another World record, a 78.61m throw by Russia's Tatyana Lysenko, however this result has been sadly tainted by an on-going doping investigation.
Another Russian thrower, 2006 European Championship silver medallist Gulfiya Khanafeyeva (RUS), also showed encouraging form early in 2007 with a 77.36m result in May. However Khanafeyeva could not sustain this level of performance for Osaka, where she failed to reach the 70m mark and finished in 10th place.
24-year-old Croatian Ivana Brkljacic, a double World Junior Champion in 2000 and 2002, had established herself as a medal candidate in the qualification rounds, by leading all competitors with a mighty 74.69m heave, but by the final she started struggling with her technique and could only manage 68.16m to secure an 11th place finish.
In the absence of the Hammer favourites, it was 24-year-old German, Betty Heidler who grabbed a surprise gold medal winning with a 74.76m throw, just 2cm more than Cuban Yipsi Moreno threw for second place. Former Olympic Champion, Kamila Skolimowska (POL), was fourth but again missed a medal in her fifth World Championships. She has made the top eight four times in a row and has placed fourth twice now.
Javelin
In the women's Javelin, the 2005 World Championship silver medallist Christina Obergföll (GER) also held the European record of 70.03m. Obergföll bettered that record, throwing 70.20m at the European Cup Super League in Munich in June, and seemed to be in the form of her life pre-Osaka, having won all of her nine competitions. However, her 2006 problems came back to haunt her in Japan, where she struggled to reach the 60m limit in the qualifying rounds, performed much better in the finals, but had to settle for another silver medal after 26-year-old Czech Barbora Spotakova set two Czech records during the World Championships final winning with a 67.07m third round effort with Obergföll managing her best 66.46m in her last throw.
Multi-talented Spotakova went on to claim a further big win at the World Athletics Final, setting another Czech record of 67.12m in the process. The versitile Czech holds a Heptathlon best of 5873 points in 2000 and still continues to compete in other events as well. In the winter she made it to the 60m Hurdles National Indoor Championships final setting a personal best of 8.68s in the heats.
Source/Courtesy
European Athletics (EAA)
https://www.european-athletics.org/
<a href="https://www.european-athletics.org/">EAA</a>
Notable Statistics
Shot Put
2007 head to head stats between best Europeans
| Competitors | Scores |
| Nadzeya Ostapchuk BLR – Petra Lammert GER | 3-1 |
| Nadzeya Ostapchuk BLR – Nadine Kleinert GER | 2-0 |
| Nadzeya Ostapchuk BLR – Yanina Pravalinskay-Karolchik BLR | 6-0 |
| Nadzeya Ostapchuk BLR – Chiara Rosa ITA | 4-0 |
| Petra Lammert GER – Nadine Kleinert GER | 7-3 |
| Petra Lammert GER – Yanina Pravalinskay-Karolchik BLR | 2-0 |
| Petra Lammert GER – Chiara Rosa ITA | 3-0 |
| Nadine Kleinert GER – Chiara Rosa ITA | 3-0 |
Career head to head stats between best Europeans
| Competitors | Scores |
| Nadzeya Ostapchuk BLR – Petra Lammert GER | 12-2 |
| Nadzeya Ostapchuk BLR – Nadine Kleinert GER | 19-11 |
| Nadzeya Ostapchuk BLR – Yanina Pravalinskay-Karolchik BLR | 15-3 |
| Nadzeya Ostapchuk BLR – Chiara Rosa ITA | 8-0 |
| Nadine Kleinert GER – Petra Lammert GER | 25-21 |
| Petra Lammert GER – Yanina Pravalinskay-Karolchik BLR | 3-0 |
| Petra Lammert GER – Chiara Rosa ITA | 10-0 |
| Nadine Kleinert GER – Chiara Rosa ITA | 9-0 |
| Nadine Kleinert GER – Yanina Pravalinskay-Karolchik BLR | 7-6 |
Discus
2007 head to head statistics between best Europeans
| Competitors | Scores |
| Franka Dietzsch GER – Vera Cechlova CZE | 3-2 |
| Franka Dietzsch GER – Darya Pishchalnikova RUS | 3-0 |
| Franka Dietzsch GER – Nicoleta Grasu ROM | 7-0 |
| Franka Dietzsch GER – Iryna Yatchenko BLR | 2-0 |
| Darya Pishchalnikova RUS – Vera Cechlova CZE | 2-0 |
| Vera Cechlova CZE – Nicoleta Grasu ROM | 3-2 |
Career (since 1999) head to head statistics between best Europeans
| Competitors | Scores |
| Franka Dietzsch GER – Vera Cechlova CZE | 23-10 |
| Franka Dietzsch GER – Darya Pishchalnikova RUS | 6-1 |
| Franka Dietzsch GER – Nicoleta Grasu ROM | 29-9 |
| Franka Dietzsch GER – Iryna Yatchenko BLR | 12-5 |
| Darya Pishchalnikova RUS – Vera Cechlova CZE | 5-0 |
| Nicoleta Grasu ROM – Vera Cechlova CZE | 18-16 |
| Hammer New entries for the European alltime list |
| 1st 78.61 Tatyana Lysenko RUS – under investigation |
| 2nd 77.36 Gulfiya Khanafeyeva RUS |
| 4th 76.83 Kamila Skolimowska POL |
| 8th 76.21 Yelena Konevtsova RUS |
| 11th 75.08 Ivana Brkljacic CRO |
2007 head to head statistics between best Europeans
| Competitors | Scores |
| Tatyana Lysenko RUS – Gulfiya Khanafeyeva RUS | 5-0 |
| Tatyana Lysenko RUS – Kamila Skolimowska POL | 4-1 |
| Tatyana Lysenko RUS – Yelena Konevtsova RUS | 4-1 |
| Tatyana Lysenko RUS – Betty Heidler GER | 5-0 |
| Tatyana Lysenko RUS – Ivana Brkljacic CRO | 2-0 |
| Kamila Skolimowska POL – Gulfiya Khanafeyeva RUS | 3-1 |
| Gulfiya Khanafeyeva RUS – Yelena Konevtsova RUS | 6-4 |
| Gulfiya Khanafeyeva RUS – Betty Heidler GER | 2-1 |
| Gulfiya Khanafeyeva RUS – Ivana Brkljacic CRO | 2-0 |
| Betty Heidler GER – Kamila Skolimowska POL | 8-1 |
| Kamila Skolimowska POL – Ivana Brkljacic CRO | 4-4 |
| Betty Heidler GER – Ivana Brkljacic CRO | 3-2 |
Career head to head statistics between best Europeans
| Competitors | Scores |
| Tatyana Lysenko RUS – Gulfiya Khanafeyeva RUS | 24-21 |
| Tatyana Lysenko RUS – Kamila Skolimowska POL | 12-6 |
| Tatyana Lysenko RUS – Yelena Konevtsova RUS | 19-8 |
| Tatyana Lysenko RUS – Betty Heidler GER | 10-3 |
| Tatyana Lysenko RUS – Ivana Brkljacic CRO | 7-1 |
| Kamila Skolimowska POL – Gulfiya Khanafeyeva RUS | 10-3 |
| Gulfiya Khanafeyeva RUS – Yelena Konevtsova RUS | 21-16 |
| Gulfiya Khanafeyeva RUS – Betty Heidler GER | 4-4 |
| Gulfiya Khanafeyeva RUS – Ivana Brkljacic CRO | 7-2 |
| Betty Heidler GER – Kamila Skolimowska POL | 19-10 |
| Kamila Skolimowska POL – Ivana Brkljacic CRO | 26-5 |
| Betty Heidler GER – Ivana Brkljacic CRO | 12-5 |
| Javelin New entries for the European alltime list |
| 1st 70.20 Christina Obergföll GER |
| 5th 67.12 Barbora Spotakova CZE |
| 12th 65.05 Goldie Sayers GBR |
2007 head to head statistics between best Europeans
| Competitors | Scores |
| Christina Obergföll GER – Barbora Spotakova CZE | 4-2 |
| Christina Obergföll GER – Steffi Nerius GER | 11-1 |
| Christina Obergföll GER – Goldie Sayers GBR | 2-0 |
| Christina Obergföll GER – Nikola Brejchova CZE | 4-0 |
| Barbora Spotakova CZE – Steffi Nerius GER | 5-3 |
| Barbora Spotakova CZE – Goldie Sayers GBR | 2-2 |
| Barbora Spotakova CZE – Nikola Brejchova CZE | 5-0 |
| Steffi Nerius GER – Goldie Sayers GBR | 3-1 |
| Steffi Nerius GER – Nikola Brejchova CZE | 5-0 |
Career head to head statistics between best Europeans
| Competitors | Scores |
| Barbora Spotakova CZE – Christina Obergföll GER | 11-7 |
| Steffi Nerius GER – Christina Obergföll GER | 32-13 |
| Christina Obergföll GER – Goldie Sayers GBR | 5-2 |
| Christina Obergföll GER – Nikola Brejchova CZE | 6-1 |
| Steffi Nerius GER – Barbora Spotakova CZE | 12-9 |
| Barbora Spotakova CZE – Goldie Sayers GBR | 8-3 |
| Nikola Brejchova CZE – Barbora Spotakova CZE | 8-7 |
| Steffi Nerius GER – Goldie Sayers GBR | 12-1 |
| Steffi Nerius GER – Nikola Brejchova CZE | 14-7 |
