 Thorkildsen in 2008 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Norwegian |
| Born | (1982-04-01)1 April 1982 (age 43) |
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) |
| Weight | 90 kg (198 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Country |  Norway |
| Sport | Track and field |
Event | Javelin throw |
| Club | Kristiansand IF |
| Coached by | Åsmund Martinsen |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personalbests | NR 91.59m (2006) |
Andreas Thorkildsen (born 1 April 1982) is a retired Norwegiantrack and field athlete who competed in thejavelin throw. He was the Olympic Champion in2004 and2008, European Champion in2006 and2010, and World Champion in2009. He is the first male javelin thrower in history to simultaneously beEuropean,World andOlympic Champion. He was also a three-time silver medalist at the World Championships, placing second in2005,2007 and2011. His personal best of 91.59m, set in 2006, is theNorwegian record.[1]
Thorkildsen's father Tomm Thorkildsen is a former javelin thrower, achieving a personal best throw of 71.64 metres in 1974.[2][3] His mother Bente (née Amundsen) became national champion in the100 metres hurdles in 1972, representingHamar IL.[4] He has one older brother.[5] He took his secondary education atKristiansand Cathedral School.[6]
Thorkildsen's relationship with the NorwegianhurdlerChristina Vukicevic generated some unwanted publicity on his part.[7] When Thorkildsen and Vukicevic wonkongepokalen for men and women respectively at the 2006 Norwegian championships, Thorkildsen left the stadium to avoid photographers,[8] whom he had shown thefinger the previous day.[7] In March 2011 Vukicevic and Thorkildsen announced in the Norwegian media that they no longer were a couple.[9]
In 2007, Thorkildsen performed as afashion model for former footballerMartin Dahlin, fronting his winter and autumn collections.[10]
Thorkildsen took up javelin throwing at the age of 11, and was coached by his father Tomm until 1999.[2] He established numerous national boys' records as a teenager.[11] In 1996 he set a national record for the 14 years' class (53.82 m), in 1998 for the 16 years' class (61.57 m), in 1999 for the 17 years' class (72.11 m), and in 2000 a record for the 18 years' class (77.48 m).[11] In 1999 he finished seventh at the European Junior Championships.
In 2000 Thorkildsen took his first medal at the Norwegian championships, finishing in silver medal position behindRonny Nilsen.[12] His form earned Thorkildsen his first call-up to the Norwegian European Cup team. In October he participated at theWorld Junior Championships and received a silver medal behind winnerGerhardus Pienaar from South Africa.
In 2001 Thorkildsen moved toOslo and started competing for the clubSK Vidar under coachÅsmund Martinsen,[13] a former javelin thrower who won the bronze medal at the 1994 Norwegian Championships,[12] and had a career best throw of 68.12 metres.[3] The cooperation proved fruitful as Thorkildsen soon broke the 80 metre barrier, throwing 83.87 metres atFana stadion in June.[14] This was a world junior record till 2011.[15] Participating in his second European Junior Championships, he won a silver medal behindAleksandr Ivanov. Both competed at theWorld Championships in Edmonton, but while Ivanov managed to reach the final, Thorkildsen finished last in the entire competition with only 68.41 metres. When asked to comment on his own throwing he described it as "completely awful".[16]
At the national level Thorkildsen became Norwegian champion for the first time.[12] In August he competed in adiscus throw meet atSognsvann, establishing a personal best of 38.02 metres.[14] He has not competed on national level in other athletic events.
In 2002, he recorded a season best of 83.43 metres in June before witnessing his form gradually declining over the next months.[17] At his firstEuropean Championships, which were held in August in Munich, he again failed to progress from the qualifying round. With a best throw of 78.36 metres he finished fifteenth overall, 68 centimetres behindAri Pakarinen who secured the last spot in the final.[18] Although Thorkildsen only managed to take silver at the Norwegian championships behindPål Arne Fagernes,[12] his result of 83.43 metres was enough to front the national top list in javelin throw for the first time.[17]
Next year he finished eleventh at the2003 World Championships in Paris, his first major international final. His performance and throw of 77.75 metres was slightly disappointing as he had thrown 79.44 metres in the qualifying round,[19] having travelled to Paris with a personal best of 85.72 metres, established in June inVentspils.[20] On the lighter side he took his second national title, consolidating his spot as Norway's leading javelin thrower.[12]
In 2004 Thorkildsen faced competition fromRonny Nilsen, who threw 84.73 metres in May. Although Thorkildsen did not retake the national number one spot right away, he did display increasing form in the preparations for theOlympic Games. He qualified for the Olympics with an 84.12 m throw at theBergen Bislett Games, an event which was won byBreaux Greer with a North American record and world leading throw of 87.39 metres.[21] On 27 July Thorkildsen took his first victory in an IAAF Grand Prix meet, beating Breaux Greer by a comfortable margin at theDN Galan meet in Stockholm.[22] Three days later he improved his season best to 84.45 metres at the London Grand Prix atCrystal Palace.[23]
Even though several throwers, including Nilsen, still towered above Thorkildsen on the world list,[24] theOlympic javelin contest was regarded as widely open – "one of the most open finals in Olympic history", according to the IAAF Olympic coverage.[25] Thorkildsen threw 81.74 m in the qualification round, barely earning a mention in the event report as he safely passed the automatic qualifier mark of 81 metres to go through to the final. Breaux Greer won the qualification with 87.25 m, but left the stadium in alimping state.[25] In the javelin final held two days later, Thorkildsen opened with an 84.82 m release which saw him ranked third at the end of the first round.Vadims Vasiļevskis of Latvia had thrown a personal best of 84.95 m to earn a surprising lead ahead of reigning World championSergey Makarov. In the second round Thorkildsen threw a personal best of 86.50 metres. As neither Aleksandr Ivanov, Greer nor anyone else managed to beat this, Thorkildsen won a surprising Olympic gold medal with Vasiļevskis and Makarov staying in place to take the silver and bronze medals respectively. Thorkildsen became the second Norwegian man to win the Olympic gold medal in javelin throw, afterEgil Danielsen in1956. Commenting on his win, Thorkildsen described the feeling as "completely insane".[26] A second place behind Breaux Greer at theWorld Athletics Final in Monte Carlo rounded off the season.
The most important event of 2005 was theWorld Championships. The preparations for this event looked promising for Thorkildsen as he improved his personal best to 86.82 metres inKuortane in June, beating the Norwegian record of Pål Arne Fagernes.[3]Tero Pitkämäki from Finland, who achieved a world leading result of 91.53 metres in the same competition, seemed a likely contender for the world champion title. In July, When Thorkildsen further improved his national record to 87.66 metres at theBislett Games, reigning world championSergey Makarov had already thrown 90.33 metres two weeks earlier at the Russian Championships in Tula.[27] Going into the World Championships, Pitkämäki was still in first place on the world top list ahead of Makarov and Thorkildsen, who in turn was ahead of Breaux Greer by one centimetre.[28]
In the qualification round at the World Championships, held in windy conditions on theHelsinki Olympic Stadium, only Pitkämäki, Makarov and Thorkildsen managed to beat the automatic qualification mark of 81 metres.[29] Rain supplemented the wind the following day, constituting difficult weather conditions for thejavelin final. Thorkildsen, in the lead after three rounds with 86.18 metres, eventually finished in silver medal position behindAndrus Värnik of Estonia as the latter threw 87.17 metres in the fourth round.[30]
Pitkämäki, who finished a disappointing fourth at the World Championships, bounced back to win theWorld Athletics Final ahead of Thorkildsen, despite the latter improving his national record to 89.60 metres. 89.60 metres was enough to finish third on the world top list that season, behind Pitkämäki and Makarov.[28]
In 2006 Thorkildsen returned to his original clubKristiansands IF, having represented SK Vidar in competitions the five previous seasons.[31] In May he broke the 90 metre barrier for the first time, with 90.13 metres from theDoha Super Grand Prix.[32] At the Bislett Games he yet again improved his record to 91.59 metres, reaching his goal of 300 feet.[33] As no one managed to top his 91.59 metre result, he entered the2006 European Championships as a favorite, together with Tero Pitkämäki who had won theIAAF Golden League meet inParis.[34] Thorkildsen won the event with 88.78 metres, having led the competition since the second round.[35] Thorkildsen finished the season by winning his firstWorld Athletics Final as well as the2006 IAAF World Cup. With 91.59 metres he finished on top of the world list for the first time.[36]
Thorkildsen's main goals for the 2007 season were theBislett Games and the2007 World Championships in Osaka,[37] as well aswinning the Golden League jackpot.[38] In addition he aimed to beat the old record ofTerje Pedersen, who threw 91.72 metres with theold javelin implement,[33] by throwing in the range of 93 to 94 metres.[38] The season started in a mediocre manner as he threw 81.10 metres in Dakar and 86.39 m in Doha.[39] He recovered his form at the world championships, but once again could only achieve a silver medal, this time losing to Pitkämäki finally fulfilling his potential with a throw of 90.33 (though he'd already been assured the medal by this point).
In 2008 Thorkildsen won theGolden League event atBislett in Oslo, his main goal besides the2008 Summer Olympics inBeijing. He won a gold medal in the Olympics where he set a new Olympic record with 90.57 metres.[40] Thorkildsen dominated the competition, leading it from his first throw and making the two longest throws in the competition without using his last attempt. All of his 5 throws would have given a medal. Thorkildsen also won the javelin competition of the2008 IAAF Golden League inZürich on 29 August.[41]
He became the first male javelin thrower in history to hold all three titles of European champion, World champion and Olympic champion, winning IAAF World Championship in Berlin with 89.59 m. Thorkildsen also had the season's leading throw, with 91.28 m achieved in Zürich on 28 August.
He opened his 2010 season with a large throw of 90.37 metres at theFlorö Track & Field Festival in May and went on to score a victory over Pitkämäki in their first match up in the2010 IAAF Diamond League at theBislett Games, finishing with a best throw of 86.00 m.[42][43] On 31 July he defended his European title with a throw of 88.37, finishing ahead of second-placedMatthias de Zordo.[44] De Zordo got his revenge next year when he wonWorld Championship on 3 September atDaegu with Thorkildsen finishing second with a throw of 84.78.[45]
In 2012 Thorkildsen finished fourth atEuropean Championships in Helsinki only managing three throws with the best result of 81.55 metres after picking up an injury during warm-up.[46] This was the first time since 2003 that Thorkildsen failed to win a medal at a major championship. At the2012 Summer Olympics in London he threw 82.63 and finished sixth which became fifth several years later after disqualification of the original silver medalistOleksandr Pyatnytsya for doping offence.[47][48][49] Next year'sWorld Championships at Moscow brought Thorkildsen a sixth place with a throw of 81.06 in what turned out to be his last appearance at a major championship competition.[50] Injuries forced him to bring his 2014 season to a premature end before theEuropean Championships. He later decided to sit out the entire 2015 season but aimed at comeback in 2016. However, in May 2016 Thorkildsen announced his retirement from sports.[51][52][53]
At the end of 2004 Thorkildsen was selectedNorwegian Sportsperson of the Year by Norwegian sports journalists.[54]
In 2008 he was awarded theEuropean Athlete of the Year trophy by theEuropean Athletic Association, announced on 2 October 2008, and to be presented at the European Athletics Awards Dinner inAmsterdam on 18 October.[55] The Association cited Thorkildsen's success at the Beijing Olympics and his breaching of the 90-metre barrier as part of their reasoning for the award.[56]
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Norwegian Sportsperson of the Year 2004 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Norwegian Sportsperson of the Year 2008 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Men's European Athlete of the Year 2008 | Succeeded by |
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European Athletics Championships champions in men'sjavelin throw | |
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IAAF World / Continental Cup champions in men'sjavelin throw | |
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 Diamond League champions in men's javelin throw | |
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