Barbora Špotáková (; born 30 June 1981) is a former Czech

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

athlete who competed in the

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the wom ...

. She is a two-time

Olympic Champion This article includes lists of all Olympic medalists since 1896, organized by each Olympic sport or discipline, and also by Olympiad. Medalist with most medals by sport Summer Olympic sports Winter Olympic sports A. Including military patrol e ...

and three-time

World Champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, as well as the current world record holder with a throw of 72.28 m.

Career

Špotáková was a

heptathlete A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek επτά (hepta, meaning "seven") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "competition"). A competitor in a hept ...

in her early career, finishing fourth at the 2000 World Junior Championships. She also won the International Combined Events Meeting in Hexham in 2000 before she went on to study in the USA and specialise in Javelin throwing. She was an All-American during her one season at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

in 2001-02, and won the silver

medal A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be int ...

at the 2006 European Championships in Gothenburg. Špotáková improved the Czech national record (previously 66.21 m held by herself since 2006) twice in the final of the 2007 World Championships in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

. She took an early lead for 66.40 m in the first attempt and secured the gold medal in the third attempt (67.07 m) before German

Christina Obergföll Christina Obergföll (; born 22 August 1981) is a retired German track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. She was World Champion in 2013. Her personal best throw of 70.20 m is the German record. It also ranks her fifth on ...

(66.46 m). Špotáková became the seventh woman in the world to reach the 67 m mark. At the 2008 Olympics, she won the gold medal, taking the lead with her last throw, 71.42 m, which set a new European record. At the

2008 IAAF World Athletics Final The 6th IAAF World Athletics Final was held at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Stuttgart, Germany on September 13 and September 14, 2008. A number of road races also took place on the second day of competition. There were seven different starting poi ...

on 13 September 2008, Špotáková broke the world record in the first round to win the competition with a throw of 72.28 m. Until the end of the 2010 season she was coached by Rudolf Černý, who led her from a national elite level

to the

World Record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

in the Women's Javelin. Prior to the 2011 season it was announced that

Jan Železný Jan Železný (; born 16 June 1966) is a Czech former track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He is a World and Olympic champion and holds the world record with a throw of . Widely considered to be the greatest javelin throwe ...

would take over as her coach. At the end of 2010 she won the Czech federation's annual poll for "Athlete of the year" for the fourth year in a row. Then she won it again in 2011, making it five years in a row. She won her second Olympic gold medal at the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. Špotáková gave birth to a son in May 2013 and did not compete at the

world championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

later that year. In 2014, she won the European Championships in Zürich, Switzerland with a throw of 64.41 m. Špotáková reunited with her former coach Rudolf Černý in 2015 to train for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, where she won the bronze medal with a throw of 64.80m. On 9 September 2022 Špotáková announced her retirement from professional sport.

Achievements

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Spotakova, Barbora 1981 births Living people Czech female javelin throwers Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of the Czech Republic Olympic gold medalists for the Czech Republic Olympic bronze medalists for the Czech Republic World Athletics record holders European Athletics Championships winners Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Jablonec nad Nisou World Athletics Championships athletes for the Czech Republic Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic female javelin throwers Universiade gold medalists for the Czech Republic World Athletics Championships winners Diamond League winners IAAF Continental Cup winners Czech Athletics Championships winners Medalists at the 2005 Summer Universiade