# Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's javelin throw

The Women's javelin throw competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom. The event was held at the Olympic Stadium on 7–9 August. Each athlete receives three throws in the qualifying round. All who achieve the qualifying distance progress to the final. If less than twelve athletes achieve this mark, then the twelve furthest throwing athletes reach the final. Each finalist is allowed three throws in last round, with the top eight athletes after that point being given three further attempts.
The qualifying round was mostly automatic marks. Eight athletes hit the auto mark in their first legal attempt. It took 60.11 to make the final.
The final was dominated by defending champion and world record holder Barbora Špotáková who took the lead on the first throw of the competition, a lead she would never relinquish. On the second throw of the competition Sunette Viljoen got off her best throw, which would put her in third place. Later in the round, Christina Obergföll got off her only legal throw, which turned out to be the silver medal throw. Each round Špotáková kept putting out long throws, but didn't improve. In the fourth round, Linda Stahl passed Viljoen to move into bronze medal position. Then Špotáková let loose the winner, her 69.55—more than 2.5 metres further than her previous bests—which won the competition by 4.39 metres. None of the medalists even got a legal throw in the final two rounds. Any one of Špotáková's four legal throws would have won the gold medal.

## Schedule

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Tuesday, 7 August 2012 | 10:00 | Qualifications |
| Thursday, 9 August 2012 | 21:00 | Finals |

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world record, Olympic record, and world leading mark were as follows:
| World record | Barbora Špotáková (CZE) | 72.28 m | Stuttgart, Germany | 13 September 2008 |
| Olympic record | Osleidys Menéndez (CUB) | 71.53 m | Athens, Greece | 27 August 2004 |
| 2012 World leading | Sunette Viljoen (RSA) | 69.35 m | New York City, United States | 9 June 2012 |

## Results
### Qualifying round

Qual. rule: qualification standard 62.00m (Q) or at least best 12 qualified (q).
| Rank | Group | Name | Nationality | #1 | #2 | #3 | Result | Notes |
| 1 | A | Barbora Špotáková | Czech Republic | 66.19 | – | – | 66.19 | Q |
| 2 | A | Christina Obergföll | Germany | 66.14 | – | – | 66.14 | Q |
| 3 | B | Sunette Viljoen | South Africa | 65.92 | – | – | 65.92 | Q |
| 4 | A | Linda Stahl | Germany | 64.78 | – | – | 64.78 | Q SB |
| 5 | B | Lü Huihui | China | 64.45 | – | – | 64.45 | Q |
| 6 | A | Martina Ratej | Slovenia | x | 63.60 | – | 63.60 | Q |
| DSQ | B | Maria Abakumova | Russia | 63.25 | – | – | 63.25 | Q |
| 8 | B | Ásdís Hjálmsdóttir | Iceland | 62.77 | – | – | 62.77 | Q NR |
| 9 | B | Katharina Molitor | Germany | 58.06 | 55.30 | 62.05 | 62.05 | Q |
| 10 | A | Madara Palameika | Latvia | 60.62 | 60.50 | 57.91 | 60.62 | q |
| 11 | A | Elizabeth Gleadle | Canada | x | 59.73 | 60.26 | 60.26 | q |
| 12 | B | Kathryn Mitchell | Australia | 60.11 | 57.80 | 59.84 | 60.11 | q |
| 13 | A | Līna Mūze | Latvia | 51.15 | 59.48 | 59.91 | 59.91 | |
| 14 | B | Jarmila Klimešová | Czech Republic | 56.76 | 59.90 | x | 59.90 | |
| 15 | A | Brittany Borman | United States | 54.31 | 56.50 | 59.27 | 59.27 | |
| 16 | B | Yuki Ebihara | Japan | 59.25 | 58.03 | 54.17 | 59.25 | |
| 17 | A | Kimberley Mickle | Australia | 59.23 | 57.77 | x | 59.23 | |
| 18 | B | Indre Jakubaityte | Lithuania | 54.05 | 56.63 | 59.05 | 59.05 | SB |
| 19 | B | Vera Rebrik | Ukraine | x | 58.97 | x | 58.97 | |
| 20 | B | Sinta Ozoliņa-Kovala | Latvia | x | 58.86 | 51.35 | 58.86 | |
| 21 | A | Laila Ferrer e Silva | Brazil | 51.66 | 52.61 | 58.39 | 58.39 | |
| 22 | B | Hanna Hatsko | Ukraine | 58.37 | 56.02 | 55.94 | 58.37 | |
| 23 | A | Zhang Li | China | 57.17 | 58.35 | x | 58.35 | |
| 24 | B | Rachel Yurkovich | United States | 54.20 | x | 57.92 | 57.92 | |
| 25 | A | Noraida Bicet | Spain | 54.08 | 54.56 | 57.77 | 57.77 | |
| 26 | A | Tatjana Jelača | Serbia | 52.58 | x | 57.09 | 57.09 | |
| 27 | B | Sávva Líka | Greece | 56.36 | 57.06 | x | 57.06 | |
| 28 | A | Marharyta Dorozhon | Ukraine | 56.74 | 55.18 | 50.60 | 56.74 | |
| 29 | B | Yainelis Ribeaux | Cuba | 53.70 | 56.55 | x | 56.55 | |
| 30 | B | Li Lingwei | China | 55.28 | x | 56.50 | 56.50 | |
| 31 | A | Kara Patterson | United States | 56.23 | x | x | 56.23 | |
| 32 | A | Flor Ruiz | Colombia | x | 54.34 | 52.37 | 54.34 | |
| 33 | B | Maryna Novik | Belarus | 51.93 | 50.77 | 54.31 | 54.31 | |
| 34 | B | Leryn Franco | Paraguay | 51.45 | x | 49.72 | 51.45 | |
| 35 | B | Anastasiya Svechnikova | Uzbekistan | 50.56 | 51.27 | x | 51.27 | |
| 36 | B | Vanda Juhász | Hungary | 49.90 | 50.01 | x | 50.01 | |
| 37 | A | Elisabeth Eberl | Austria | x | x | 49.66 | 49.66 | |
| 38 | A | Kristine Harutyunyan | Armenia | 47.65 | x | x | 47.65 | |
| — | A | Yanet Cruz | Cuba | x | x | x | — | NM |
| — | A | Goldie Sayers | Great Britain | x | x | x | — | NM |
| — | B | Sanni Utriainen | Finland | x | x | x | — | NM |
| — | A | Yusbelys Parra | Venezuela | — | — | — | — | DNS |

### Final

| Rank | Name | Nationality | #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 | Result | Notes |
| | Barbora Špotáková | Czech Republic | 66.90 | 66.88 | 66.24 | 69.55 | x | x | 69.55 | WL |
| | Christina Obergföll | Germany | 65.16 | x | x | x | x | x | 65.16 | |
| | Linda Stahl | Germany | 59.49 | 63.24 | 62.67 | 64.91 | x | x | 64.91 | SB |
| 4 | Sunette Viljoen | South Africa | 64.53 | 62.71 | 57.30 | 57.05 | 60.93 | 62.61 | 64.53 | |
| 5 | Lü Huihui | China | 59.97 | 63.28 | 58.58 | 61.26 | 63.70 | 62.19 | 63.70 | |
| 6 | Katharina Molitor | Germany | 62.89 | 58.15 | 58.51 | x | x | x | 62.89 | |
| 7 | Martina Ratej | Slovenia | x | 58.89 | 61.62 | x | 60.11 | 56.90 | 61.62 | |
| 8 | Madara Palameika | Latvia | 56.47 | 60.73 | x | 59.32 | x | 59.22 | 60.73 | |
| 9 | Kathryn Mitchell | Australia | 58.31 | 59.46 | 58.45 | – | – | – | 59.46 | |
| DSQ | Maria Abakumova | Russia | x | 59.34 | 58.70 | – | – | – | 59.34 | |
| 10 | Ásdís Hjálmsdóttir | Iceland | 59.08 | 57.35 | x | – | – | – | 59.08 | |
| 11 | Elizabeth Gleadle | Canada | 57.10 | x | 58.78 | – | – | – | 58.78 | |