# Athletics at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Women's javelin throw

The Women's Javelin Throw event at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea had an entry list of 29 competitors, with two qualifying groups (29 throwers) before the final (12) took place on Monday September 26, 1988. The top 12 and all those reaching 63.00 metres advanced to the final. All results were made with a rough surfaced javelin (old design).

## Medalists

| Gold | Petra Felke East Germany |
| Silver | Fatima Whitbread Great Britain |
| Bronze | Beate Koch East Germany |

## Schedule

* All times are Korea Standard Time (UTC+9)
Qualification Round :
| Group A | Group B |
| 25.09.1988 – ??:??h | 25.09.1988 – ??:??h |
| Final Round ||
| 26.09.1988 – ??:??h ||

## Abbreviations

| Q | automatic qualification |
| q | qualification by rank |
| DNS | did not start |
| NM | no mark |
| WR | world record |
| OR | olympic record |
| AR | area record |
| NR | national record |
| PB | personal best |
| SB | season best |

## Records

Standing records prior to the 1988 Summer Olympics :
| World Record | Petra Felke (GDR) | 80.00 m | September 9, 1988 | Potsdam, East Germany |
| Olympic Record | Tessa Sanderson (GBR) | 69.56 m | August 6, 1984 | Los Angeles, United States |
| Broken records during the 1988 Summer Olympics |||||
| Olympic Record | Petra Felke (GDR) | 72.62 m | September 26, 1988 | Seoul, South Korea |
| Olympic Record | Petra Felke (GDR) | 74.68 m | September 26, 1988 | Seoul, South Korea |

## Qualification
### Group A

| Rank | Overall | Athlete | Attempts | Attempts | Attempts | Distance | Note |
| Rank | Overall | Athlete | 1 | 2 | 3 | Distance | Note |
| 1 | 2 | Petra Felke (GDR) | 67.06 | — | — | 67.06 m | #263 |
| 2 | 3 | Beate Koch (GDR) | 66.86 | — | — | 66.86 m | #272 |
| 3 | 5 | Natalya Yermolovich (URS) | X | 64.44 | — | 64.44 m | #519 |
| 4 | 6 | Zsuzsa Malovecz (HUN) | 64.30 | — | — | 64.30 m | |
| 5 | 11 | Denise Thiémard (SUI) | 55.18 | 61.74 | 55.60 | 61.74 m | |
| 6 | 13 | Tuula Laaksalo (FIN) | 57.34 | 60.64 | 54.66 | 60.64 m | |
| 7 | 14 | Beate Peters (FRG) | X | X | 60.20 | 60.20 m | |
| 8 | 16 | Laverne Eve (BAH) | X | 57.48 | 60.02 | 60.02 m | |
| 9 | 18 | Trine Solberg (NOR) | 57.76 | 56.90 | 58.82 | 58.82 m | |
| 10 | 19 | Anna Verouli (GRE) | 57.60 | 58.52 | X | 58.52 m | |
| 11 | 21 | Tessa Sanderson (GBR) | 54.18 | 56.70 | 56.26 | 56.70 m | |
| 12 | 22 | Zhou Yuanxiang (CHN) | 53.66 | 52.80 | 56.36 | 56.36 m | |
| 13 | 24 | Lynda Sutfin (USA) | 56.08 | 56.12 | X | 56.12 m | |
| 14 | 27 | Céline Chartrand (CAN) | 47.64 | 46.18 | 54.10 | 54.10 m | |
| — | — | Nadine Auzeil (FRA) | X | X | X | NM | |

### Group B

| Rank | Overall | Athlete | Attempts | Attempts | Attempts | Distance | Note |
| Rank | Overall | Athlete | 1 | 2 | 3 | Distance | Note |
| 1 | 1 | Fatima Whitbread (GBR) | 54.90 | X | 68.44 | 68.44 m | #253 |
| 2 | 4 | Antoaneta Selenska (BUL) | 50.84 | 61.62 | 64.60 | 64.60 m | #52 |
| 3 | 7 | Silke Renk (GDR) | 63.64 | — | — | 63.64 m | #284 |
| 4 | 8 | Ingrid Thyssen (FRG) | 63.32 | — | — | 63.32 m | |
| 5 | 9 | Irina Kostyuchenkova (URS) | 58.56 | X | 63.24 | 63.24 m | |
| 6 | 10 | Päivi Alafrantti (FIN) | 62.82 | 58.54 | 59.82 | 62.82 m | |
| 7 | 12 | Donna Mayhew (USA) | 61.56 | 60.62 | 59.08 | 61.56 m | #587 |
| 8 | 15 | Tiina Lillak (FIN) | 60.06 | X | 55.52 | 60.06 m | |
| 9 | 17 | Li Baolian (CHN) | 56.64 | 58.92 | 56.62 | 58.92 m | |
| 10 | 20 | Karin Smith (USA) | 57.42 | 53.86 | 57.94 | 57.94 m | |
| 11 | 23 | Emi Matsui (JPN) | 50.70 | X | 56.26 | 56.26 m | |
| 12 | 25 | Sharon Gibson (GBR) | 56.00 | 50.74 | 53.20 | 56.00 m | |
| 13 | 26 | Íris Grönfeldt (ISL) | X | 54.28 | 50.84 | 54.28 m | |
| 14 | 28 | Yu Chun-ok (KOR) | X | 44.92 | 48.26 | 48.26 m | |

## Final

| Rank | Athlete | Attempts | Attempts | Attempts | Attempts | Attempts | Attempts | Distance |
| Rank | Athlete | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Distance |
| | Petra Felke (GDR) | 72.62 | 74.68 | 66.12 | 66.76 | 71.12 | 68.38 | 74.68 m |
| | Fatima Whitbread (GBR) | 61.98 | 67.46 | 66.58 | 64.86 | 67.82 | 70.32 | 70.32 m |
| | Beate Koch (GDR) | 67.30 | 65.66 | 66.48 | 62.04 | 65.64 | 66.02 | 67.30 m |
| 4 | Irina Kostyuchenkova (URS) | 64.34 | 67.00 | 63.12 | 63.42 | 63.10 | X | 67.00 m |
| 5 | Silke Renk (GDR) | 60.86 | 58.74 | 63.98 | 64.60 | 64.74 | 66.38 | 66.38 m |
| 6 | Natalya Yermolovich (URS) | 64.84 | X | X | X | X | X | 64.84 m |
| 7 | Donna Mayhew (USA) | 57.52 | X | 61.78 | 59.72 | X | 56.74 | 61.78 m |
| 8 | Ingrid Thyssen (FRG) | 60.76 | 60.12 | 56.66 | X | 59.64 | 58.28 | 60.76 m |
| 9 | Denise Thiémard (SUI) | 57.58 | 57.20 | 58.54 | | | | 58.54 m |
| 10 | Päivi Alafrantti (FIN) | 58.20 | 55.86 | 56.46 | | | | 58.20m |
| 11 | Antoaneta Selenska (BUL) | 56.78 | X | X | | | | 56.78 m |
| 12 | Zsuzsa Malovecz (HUN) | X | 54.58 | X | | | | 54.58 m |