The European Javelin Symposium held at the Tanhuvaara Sports Institute attracted over 200 visitors and an impressive group of top experts under the same roof on 21-22 November. The experts present engaged openly with the participants in order for them to get a better understanding of the demands that javelin coaches and athletes are facing.
Javelin training is undergoing somewhat of a change, with increasing focus being placed on javelin-specific skills. This was emphasised by many of the speakers. The first of them was Sami Kalaja, director of the Research Institute for Olympic Sports (KIHU), and he was followed by many others.
Germany’s Thomas Röhler, who placed fourth at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing, described his route to the top, which started with his days as a jumper. He selected the javelin as his main sport at the age of 18 but remains extremely versatile to this day as part of his training programme.
Today, Röhler’s broad training background facilitates learning javelin-specific skills, and his background in jumping provides a different kind of sportiness to draw from with his coach Harro Schwuchow.
Röhler also revealed some interesting insight about his training.
“We almost never test. Weight training of the upper body involves mainly wall-ball and gymnastic exercises. I don’t do bench presses or pullovers at all,” he explained.
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In his presentation on Saturday afternoon, medical specialist Ilkka Tulikoura gave an introduction to typical injuries among javelin-throwers. This led naturally to the next presentation, physiotherapist Jarmo Ahonen’s demonstration of how to prevent injuries. Reigning European javelin champion Antti Ruuskanen assisted with this discussion.
“Both strength and mobility are needed. If mobility is limited, strength can lead to injuries. It’s almost like putting a Ferrari engine in the body of a Lada,” Ahonen explained.
Toni Keränen, a promising representative of the next javelin generation, described his background, with thoughts added by his father and coach, Timo Keränen.
Toni, who came to the sport from Finnish baseball (pesäpallo), may be the fastest javelin-thrower in Finland, but that does not keep the pair satisfied.
“Only when the result in the men's javelin throw is 80 meters can we talk about the fastest javelin-thrower in Finland,” said the senior Keränen, laughing.
Saturday evening ended with a presentation about the initial speed and its significance for throw length by Riku Valleala, communications manager and researcher for the Research Institute for Olympic Sports.
Petteri Piironen, coach to the top two from Beijing, winner Julius Yego of Kenya, and silver medalist Ihab Abdelrahman of Egypt, gave his presentation on Sunday, supporting his ideas with demonstrations of functional movements.
Piironen placed javelin-specific skills ahead of strength, and the words “rhythm,” “elasticity,” and “explosiveness” were heard many times during his presentation.
“We should ask ourselves what is required in order to reach 90 meters. Wouldn’t it be better to focus more on skills instead of gaining strength?” asked Piironen.
The closing panel featured an impressive line up of experts in various fields. A surprise guest, Tommi Evilä, the bronze medallist from the Helsinki 2005 IAAF World Championships supported Ruuskanen’s view of care-oriented training.
The symposium participants shared one clear perspective that “change is needed and people are ready for it.” There is also increased willingness to engage in open discussions.
Jarmo Hirvonen, the main organizer of the event, was very pleased with the outcome.
“We have received really good feedback. The input from all Tanhuvaara personnel was vital. We all pulled together and made the symposium a success,” he said.
The symposium in most cases exceeded expectations and helped identify guidelines for future development of European javelin throwing.