# Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's javelin throw

The men's javelin throw event at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on 21 and 23 August at the Beijing National Stadium. The qualification mark was set at 82.50 metres.
The qualifying standards were 81.80 m (268.37 ft) (A standard) and 77.80 m (255.25 ft) (B standard).

## Schedule

All times are China standard time (UTC+8)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Thursday, 21 August 2008 | 10:10 | Qualifications |
| Saturday, 23 August 2008 | 19:10 | Finals |

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world record, Olympic record, and world leading mark were as follows:
| World record | Jan Železný (CZE) | 98.48 m | Jena, Germany | 25 May 1996 |
| Olympic record | Jan Železný (CZE) | 90.17 m | Sydney, Australia | 23 September 2000 |
| World Leading | Jarrod Bannister (AUS) | 89.02 | Brisbane, Australia | 29 February 2008 |
The following new Olympic record was set during this competition:
| Date | Event | Athlete | Time | Notes |
| 23 August | Final | Andreas Thorkildsen (NOR) | 90.57 | OR |

## Results
### Qualifying round

Qualification: 82.50 (Q) or at least 12 best performers (q) advance to the final.
| Rank | Group | Athlete | Nationality | #1 | #2 | #3 | Result | Notes |
| 1 | B | Vadims Vasiļevskis | Latvia | 83.51 | | | 83.51 | Q |
| 2 | B | Ilya Korotkov | Russia | 79.13 | 83.33 | | 83.33 | Q |
| 3 | B | Tero Pitkämäki | Finland | x | 82.61 | | 82.61 | Q |
| 4 | B | Tero Järvenpää | Finland | 77.76 | 82.34 | - | 82.34 | q |
| 5 | B | Vítězslav Veselý | Czech Republic | x | 78.93 | 81.20 | 81.20 | q, PB |
| 6 | A | Scott Russell | Canada | 80.42 | - | - | 80.42 | q |
| 7 | A | Ainārs Kovals | Latvia | x | x | 80.15 | 80.15 | q |
| 8 | A | Uladzimir Kazlou | Belarus | 77.07 | 80.06 | 78.41 | 80.06 | q |
| 9 | B | Andreas Thorkildsen | Norway | 79.85 | x | - | 79.85 | q |
| 10 | A | Teemu Wirkkala | Finland | 79.79 | 78.89 | 75.81 | 79.79 | q |
| 11 | A | Jarrod Bannister | Australia | 79.79 | x | 77.40 | 79.79 | q |
| 12 | A | Magnus Arvidsson | Sweden | 79.70 | 75.35 | 76.07 | 79.70 | q |
| 13 | A | Ēriks Rags | Latvia | 79.33 | x | 77.97 | 79.33 | |
| 14 | B | Alexandr Ivanov | Russia | 75.73 | 73.89 | 79.27 | 79.27 | |
| 15 | A | Yukifumi Murakami | Japan | x | 78.21 | 76.29 | 78.21 | |
| 16 | A | Igor Janik | Poland | 71.43 | 67.59 | 77.63 | 77.63 | |
| 17 | A | Park Jae-Myong | South Korea | 76.63 | 75.61 | 74.25 | 76.63 | |
| 18 | B | Leigh Smith | United States | x | 74.18 | 76.55 | 76.55 | |
| 19 | A | John Robert Oosthuizen | South Africa | x | 74.55 | 76.16 | 76.16 | |
| 20 | B | Stuart Farquhar | New Zealand | 76.14 | 75.51 | 73.87 | 76.14 | |
| 21 | B | Mihkel Kukk | Estonia | 63.42 | 70.55 | 75.56 | 75.56 | |
| 22 | A | Breaux Greer | United States | 73.68 | - | - | 73.68 | SB |
| 23 | B | Chen Qi | China | 73.50 | x | x | 73.50 | |
| 24 | A | Ignacio Guerra | Chile | 71.07 | 71.35 | 73.03 | 73.03 | |
| 25 | B | Mike Hazle | United States | x | 72.75 | 71.69 | 72.75 | |
| 26 | A | Sergey Makarov | Russia | x | x | 72.47 | 72.47 | |
| 27 | B | Ioannis-Georgios Smalios | Greece | x | 71.87 | 67.39 | 71.87 | |
| 28 | A | Anier Boue | Cuba | 71.29 | 71.85 | x | 71.85 | |
| 29 | B | Roman Avramenko | Ukraine | 71.64 | 70.68 | 71.10 | 71.64 | |
| 30 | A | Victor Fatecha | Paraguay | 70.59 | 71.58 | 68.79 | 71.58 | |
| 31 | B | Matija Kranjc | Slovenia | 71.00 | x | x | 71.00 | |
| 32 | A | Stephan Steding | Germany | x | 70.05 | x | 70.05 | |
| 33 | A | Bobur Shokirjonov | Uzbekistan | 69.54 | 66.29 | 68.29 | 69.54 | |
| 34 | B | Pablo Pietrobelli | Argentina | 58.04 | 66.95 | 69.09 | 69.09 | |
| 35 | B | Alexander Vieweg | Germany | 67.49 | 66.37 | 67.39 | 67.49 | |
| 36 | B | Kolyo Neshev | Bulgaria | 66.00 | x | x | 66.00 | |
| 37 | B | Melik Janoyan | Armenia | x | x | 64.47 | 64.47 | |
| | A | Csongor Olteán | Hungary | x | x | x | NM | |
* AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season)
* DNS = did not start | DQ = disqualification | NM = no mark (i.e. no valid result) | Q = qualification by place in heat | q = qualification by overall place

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Nationality | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Result | Notes |
| | Andreas Thorkildsen | Norway | 84.72 | 85.91 | 87.93 | 85.13 | 90.57 | x | 90.57 | OR |
| | Ainārs Kovals | Latvia | 79.45 | 82.63 | 82.28 | 78.98 | 80.65 | 86.64 | 86.64 | PB |
| | Tero Pitkämäki | Finland | 83.75 | x | 80.69 | 85.83 | x | 86.16 | 86.16 | |
| 4 | Tero Järvenpää | Finland | 83.95 | x | x | x | x | 83.63 | 83.95 | |
| 5 | Teemu Wirkkala | Finland | – | 73.90 | 83.46 | x | x | 78.23 | 83.46 | |
| 6 | Jarrod Bannister | Australia | 83.45 | 80.59 | 82.20 | x | x | x | 83.45 | |
| 7 | Ilya Korotkov | Russia | 82.54 | x | 76.84 | 82.15 | x | 83.15 | 83.15 | |
| 8 | Uladzimir Kazlou | Belarus | 82.06 | 77.57 | 74.09 | x | x | 75.36 | 82.06 | PB |
| 9 | Vadims Vasiļevskis | Latvia | 76.75 | x | 81.32 | | | | 81.32 | |
| 10 | Scott Russell | Canada | 80.90 | 78.02 | x | | | | 80.90 | |
| 11 | Magnus Arvidsson | Sweden | 79.85 | 79.57 | 80.16 | | | | 80.16 | |
| 12 | Vítězslav Veselý | Czech Republic | x | x | 76.76 | | | | 76.76 | |