Germany's Steffi Nerius in the women's javelin at the 2009 IAAF World Championships in Berlin (© Getty Images)
If you would have to organise your farewell party in sports you could not do it any better than Steffi Nerius. In what was her last championships’ final the German reached the climax of her long career, unexpectedly taking the gold medal in the Javelin Throw at the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics.
The 37-year-old managed that feat in front of her home crowd in Berlin on Tuesday evening in the Olympic stadium (18). A first round throw of 67.30m was good enough for Nerius to secure the gold medal, beating defending champion Barbora Spotakova (Czech Republic / 66.42m) into second while the Olympic silver medallist Maria Abakumova (Russia / 66.06m) was third.
“I don’t know what to say. I still can’t believe it. It was my aim to enjoy this final World Championships’ competition and to make it my nicest final in my life – and I did just that,” said Nerius, who was to meet German chancellor Angela Merkel later in the evening.
Berlino succeeds where all else fail
The only one who was able to ‘beat’ her that night was Berlino, the giant bear mascot of these championships who has been parading around the infield. So excited about Germany’s first gold medal at these World Championships, Berlino jumped against Nerius in a moment of unrestrained joy and both of them fell to the ground.
But Nerius’ victory had even more significance besides her personal triumph. In the history of the IAAF World Championships Germany is the nation which has won by far the most medals in the throwing events. But one gold medal was missing in the German World championships collection until tonight: There had never been a German women’s World champion in the Javelin until Steffi Nerius took the gold at the very last moment of her career. “I was not aware of that. This makes me even more proud,” said Steffi Nerius, when told about her unique success. So before she retires she filled the gap.
There was more good news for German Javelin Throwing, since it was the first time that three throwers had managed to achieve placings within the top six in a final of the World Championships. Christina Obergföll was disappointed though. Much more regarded as a gold medal contender than Nerius she had to be content with fifth place (64.34). In contrast Linda Stahl had every reason to be happy with a sixth place with 63.23m.
Throwing stones
But the story of the day was that of Nerius. Originally coming from Rügen, an island in the Baltic Sea, which is easily reached by car from Berlin, her first sport was volleyball. But she was not tall enough for this sport. Her mother had been German youth champion in the Javelin Throw so she brought her to athletics. “I used to throw stones into the water a lot when I was a child,” recalls Steffi Nerius.
Brought up in the former GDR Steffi Nerius today lives in Leverkusen for many years. Bayer is her club and that of many more German athletics stars. The first time Steffi Nerius comepted at a major international championship was in Stuttgart in 1993. When Germany hosted the IAAF World Championships for the first time she was 21 and placed ninth. In the next one and a half decades there were a number of international medals Nerius took on the global stage, but no gold. She was second at the Olympics in 2004 and won three bronze medals at World championships in 2003, 2005 and 2007. At the European Championships however she had won a gold medal in 2006, after taking second in 2002.
Shock tactics
Nerius had bought 30 tickets for friends and family for Tuesday evening and said that her parents were in the stadium watching her winning the gold.
“I wanted to throw well and hoped to get a medal, but I never thought of the gold,” said the 27 year-old. “I wanted to do really well at my first attempt and had hoped for may be 66 or 67 metres to perhaps shock the others. I managed to do this very well.”
Indeed when she threw 67.30m in round one 30,000 spectators were roaring and cheering her on. There was already a bit of celebration by Nerius after this huge opening throw, with which she was just little more than a metre away from her personal best of 68.34m.
“It was not until the final two rounds that I started thinking that may be I could win this after all. But after my first throw I hoped that this might be just good enough for a medal. I knew that the others can throw further than me and expected that to happen.” But it did not. “The competition was very long because there were interruptions. So I had the impression we were all loosing a bit of energy towards the end, which was fine for me because I was in the lead.”
Her final competition to be at IAAF/VTB Bank World Athletics Final
Asked if she would reconsider her plans to end her career after this gold medal Steffi Nerius stressed: “There is no way I will do this. I will end my career in September at the World Athletics Final. It is best to stop with such a major success.”
After a two week holiday Nerius will then start to work full time as a coach for handicapped athletes. She had accepted the job offer from her club Bayer Leverkusen some time ago and is looking forward to this. Already in the past Nerius had been successful in coaching handicapped athletes, who have won medals at the past two Paralympic Games.
Asked why there was no 70 metre throw on Monday night, which was expected by some to be necessary for taking the gold, Nerius’ simple answer was: “I can not throw 70 metres! I am the World champion, but I am not the best Javelin Thrower in the world.” But on Tuesday night she indeed was the best in the world – perfect timing.
Jörg Wenig for the IAAF
