Javelin Throw, Freestyle, Men

This was the first international javelin event, and the Scandinavian countries wasted no time in establishing their dominance of the event, taking the first four places. Eric Lemming won by a laughable margin, setting a new world record with 53.90 metres, surpassing the mark of 53.79 which he had set in Stockholm on 31 May 1903. He would repeat this championship at the 1908 and 1912 Olympics. Overall, Lemming would eventually win six Olympic medals, four in javelin events (1906 [1], 1908 [1], 1908 freestyle [1], 1912 [1]), and in the 1906 shot put and pentathlon. Lemming competed in the era before the IAAF (International Amateur Athletic Federation) began to officially ratify world records, but he is credited with 13 or 14 world records, and his mark of 62.32 set at the 1912 Olympics was the first world javelin record officially ratified by the IAAF.

In the very narrow Panathenaic stadium, with long straightaways and sharp turns, there was very little room to throw the javelin. The athletes had difficulty keeping their throws on the field and not have them land on the track. Fortunately no running events were conducted at the same time which would have put the runners at grave danger (is there any other kind?).