.jpg) Hohn in 1984 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nationality | German | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 16 July 1962 (1962-07-16) (age 63) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 118 kg (260 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Country |  East Germany | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Track and field | ||||||||||||||||||||
Event | Javelin throw | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | ASK Vorwärts Potsdam | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Personalbests | WR 104.80m (1984) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Uwe Hohn (born 16 July 1962) is a retired Germantrack and field athlete who competed in thejavelin throw. He is the only athlete to throw a javelin 100 metres or more, with hisworld record of 104.80 m (343 ft9+3⁄4 in). Anew 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 forSC Potsdam, the successor ofASK Vorwärts Potsdam, where he started his career as a sportsman. He has also coached Indian track and field athleteNeeraj Chopra, who won the gold in themen's javelin throw at the2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo.
Born inNeuruppin, Hohn excelled at the javelin throw from a young age and won the1981 European Junior Championship with a throw of 86.56 m, ajunior record. He thenwon gold at the1982 European Championships with a 91.34 m throw. Hedid not compete at the1983 World Championships and missed the1984 Summer Olympics asEast Germany had boycotted the games. He did however win gold at theFriendship Games, throwing94.44 m (Arto Härkönen won the 1984 Olympics with a throw of86.76 m). In 1985, Hohn won theIAAF World Cup andEuropean Cup but his career ended in 1986 after several setbacks due to a surgery.
On 20 July 1984, competing in the Olympic Day of Athletics competition at theFriedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark, Berlin, Hohn threw the javelin a distance of 104.80 m (343 ft9+3⁄4 in). Hohn's throw shattered the previous world record of 99.72 m set byTom 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]
Hohn has been a professional coach since 1999. In 2017, Hohn signed a contract with theAthletics Federation of India (AFI) to coach the Indian javelin squad including Junior world record holderNeeraj Chopra through the2020 Tokyo Olympics.[3] At the Games, Chopra won the gold medal for India with a throw of 87.58 m.[4] AFI sacked Hohn after the Games, citing dissatisfaction with his training methods and financial demands they deemed unreasonable.[5][6]
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.
Media related toUwe Hohn at Wikimedia Commons| Awards | ||
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| Preceded by | East German Sportsman of the Year 1984 | Succeeded by |
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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