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". 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. 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.
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]
.jpg)
