Post by slinger on Nov 15, 2007 20:43:38 GMT 1
1998 mens javelin final at the european champions in budapest
www.youtube.com/watch?v=buO-m_-qN9U
backley had a wonderful year in 1998 - arguably his best in terms of consistency with a best that year of 89.89m at the gateshead grand prix - he should have gone 90m perhaps in '98 as he was in superb shape and technically as good as he'd ever been, but it just wasn't to be, he ended the year as top merit ranked javelin thrower in the world - only blemish on his card in 1998 was the commonwealth games where marius corbett threw a new AR of 88.75m to backley's 87m, backley had in the competition numerous throws beyond 85m, in his last round throw you could see the determination etched upon his face - an incredible competitor but couldn't quite find the extra couple of metres to take gold. Back to the euro's...Steve threw 89.72m with his first round and effectively killed the competition dead, more was perhaps on the cards as during the throw he felt the javelin slip out of his hand during delivery and maybe that elusive 90m throw or even a new UK record throw might have happened, but it wasn't to be.
mick had a wonderful championships taking the silver with his fifth round throw, after only qualifying for the final with his third and final throw in qualifying if i remember rightly, after mick's fifth round throw of 86.92m [just 2cm off his life time best, set in 1993 - a year he won world bronze] you can see former silver medalist raymond hecht sitting shaking his head still with a round to go, this was because he'd injured his ankle and was effectively out of the competition and couldn't respond to mick's great effort - mick had 2 other throws over 85m - a far cry from the qualifying! - just shows anything can happen when you get up for it and you are in the final. He finished the year off with a commonwealth bronze and even had a shout at a runner warming up running across his run up whilst about to set off - the words he said can't be repeated on here may i add! and if looks could kill ;D
mark roberson finished in 5th, with 84.15m - his second longest throw ever, behind his 85.67m from gateshead that year [the same comp where backley threw his 89.89m] and also threw 83m in the comp to make the top 8, with this throw he sent one of the favourites aki parviainen home, much to my amusement
the amazing thing with mark was in 1998 it was the first time he'd thrown 80m in 10 years.
backley said after the comp - "to have mick chasing me up was fantastic and mark roberson in 5th it couldn't have been a better evening"
mick said "i dearly wanted that last one to go over 90, maybe next year, maybe sydney - who knows...."
in john trower's book there's a photo of the two medalists saying "a great night for british javelin throwing"
...i was in my front room watching the competition as a very excited 17 year old and it was almost a dead cert for backley to win, it was almost expected - he was having a wonderful year, but to have mick doing the business was just fantastic ;D
www.youtube.com/watch?v=buO-m_-qN9U
backley had a wonderful year in 1998 - arguably his best in terms of consistency with a best that year of 89.89m at the gateshead grand prix - he should have gone 90m perhaps in '98 as he was in superb shape and technically as good as he'd ever been, but it just wasn't to be, he ended the year as top merit ranked javelin thrower in the world - only blemish on his card in 1998 was the commonwealth games where marius corbett threw a new AR of 88.75m to backley's 87m, backley had in the competition numerous throws beyond 85m, in his last round throw you could see the determination etched upon his face - an incredible competitor but couldn't quite find the extra couple of metres to take gold. Back to the euro's...Steve threw 89.72m with his first round and effectively killed the competition dead, more was perhaps on the cards as during the throw he felt the javelin slip out of his hand during delivery and maybe that elusive 90m throw or even a new UK record throw might have happened, but it wasn't to be.
mick had a wonderful championships taking the silver with his fifth round throw, after only qualifying for the final with his third and final throw in qualifying if i remember rightly, after mick's fifth round throw of 86.92m [just 2cm off his life time best, set in 1993 - a year he won world bronze] you can see former silver medalist raymond hecht sitting shaking his head still with a round to go, this was because he'd injured his ankle and was effectively out of the competition and couldn't respond to mick's great effort - mick had 2 other throws over 85m - a far cry from the qualifying! - just shows anything can happen when you get up for it and you are in the final. He finished the year off with a commonwealth bronze and even had a shout at a runner warming up running across his run up whilst about to set off - the words he said can't be repeated on here may i add! and if looks could kill ;D
mark roberson finished in 5th, with 84.15m - his second longest throw ever, behind his 85.67m from gateshead that year [the same comp where backley threw his 89.89m] and also threw 83m in the comp to make the top 8, with this throw he sent one of the favourites aki parviainen home, much to my amusement
the amazing thing with mark was in 1998 it was the first time he'd thrown 80m in 10 years.
backley said after the comp - "to have mick chasing me up was fantastic and mark roberson in 5th it couldn't have been a better evening"
mick said "i dearly wanted that last one to go over 90, maybe next year, maybe sydney - who knows...."
in john trower's book there's a photo of the two medalists saying "a great night for british javelin throwing"
...i was in my front room watching the competition as a very excited 17 year old and it was almost a dead cert for backley to win, it was almost expected - he was having a wonderful year, but to have mick doing the business was just fantastic ;D
