Uwe Hohn

Uwe Hohn in 1984
Personal information
Nationality	German
Born	16 July 1962 (1962-07-16) (age 61) Neuruppin, East Germany
Height	1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)
Weight	120 kg (265 lb)
Sport
Country	East Germany
Sport	Track and field
Event	Javelin throw
Club	ASK Vorwärts Potsdam
Achievements and titles
Personal bests	WR 104.80 m (1984)
Medal record Representing  East Germany Men's athletics World Cup 1985 Canberra Javelin European Championships 1982 Athens Javelin

Uwe Hohn (born 16 July 1962) is a retired German track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He is the only athlete to throw a javelin 100 metres or more, with his world record of 104.80 m (343 ft 9+3⁄4 in). A new javelin design was implemented in 1986 and the records had to be restarted, thus Hohn's mark became an "eternal world record". He coached Indian track and field athlete Neeraj Chopra, who won the gold in the men's javelin throw at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo.

Born in Neuruppin, Hohn excelled at the javelin throw from a young age and won the 1981 European Junior Championship with a throw of 86.56 m, a junior record. He then won gold at the 1982 European Championships with a 91.34 m throw. He did not compete at the 1983 World Championships and missed the 1984 Summer Olympics as East Germany had boycotted the games. He did however win gold at the Friendship Games, throwing 94.44 m (Arto Härkönen won the 1984 Olympics with a throw of 86.76 m). In 1985, Hohn won the IAAF World Cup and European Cup but his career ended in 1986 after several setbacks due to a surgery. After his retirement from competition, Hohn became a coach and since 1999 he has worked for SC Potsdam, the successor of ASK Vorwärts Potsdam, where he started his career as a sportsman.

World record

On 20 July 1984, competing in the Olympic Day of Athletics competition at the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark, Berlin, Hohn threw the javelin a distance of 104.80 m (343 ft 9+3⁄4 in). Hohn's throw shattered the previous world record of 99.72 m set by Tom Petranoff of the United States in May 1983. Contrary to popular myth, this was not the primary reason for the change in javelin design rules that came into force starting in 1986; the relevant change of moving the javelin's centre of gravity forward by four centimetres had already been officially proposed prior to Hohn's record throw, not only to shorten distances but also to get rid of the then frequent flat or ambiguous landings, which often made it hard to assess if a throw should be declared legal.^[1] However, Hohn's record-breaking throw accelerated the process as throws of his distance were in danger of going beyond the available space in normal stadiums.^[2]

Coaching career

Hohn has been a professional coach since 1999. Among others, Hohn has coached China's national champion Zhao Qinggang. In 2017, Hohn signed the contract with the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) for coaching the Indian javelin squad including Junior world record holder Neeraj Chopra till 2020 Summer Olympics to be held in Tokyo.^[3] Neeraj Chopra won the Gold medal for India in the Men's javelin throw with a throw of 87.58 m at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.^[4]

Personal life

Hohn has been married since 1983 and has two children. He is 1.98 metres (6 ft 6 in) tall and had a competition weight of 112 kg.

Achievements

• 1976 to 1980: GDR champion for his age group
• 1981: European junior champion for the GDR starting in Utrecht with 86.58 m; European junior record with 86.58 m
• 1982: European Champion in Athens with 91.34 m
• 1984: GDR sportsman of the year. Threw the longest men's javelin throw ever at 104.80 m.
• 1985: Won the javelin event at the 1985 IAAF World Cup – Canberra with 96.96 m (best performance in the world that year^[5])
• 1985: Set a championship record of 92.88 m at the 1985 European Cup

References