The action of throwing comprises various methods such as the over arm throw represented by the baseball and the javelin, and the throw involving a rotational motion, for example, the discus and the hammer. Biomechanical research on the javelin throw has been carried out mainly on the basis of release parameters such as the initial velocity, release angle, attitude angle, attack angle and release height of javelin ( Bartlett R. et al., 1988; Bartlett R. et al., 1996; Hubbard M. and Alaways L.W., 1987). These papers have argued that the most important factor necessary for achieving a high performance was a high initial velocity at the moment of javelin release. However, the papers did not clarify the throwing movement in detail. Mero et al.(1994) have investigated the body segment contribution to javelin throwing of male and female finalists in the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. They compared the mean values of many kinematic parameters between male and female finalists and find out the differences of both groups. However, relationships between the javelin throw movements and throw distance were not clarified. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationships between the throw distance and the kinematic parameters of javelin throw to clarify the characteristics of the throwing movement of finalists at the 11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics held in Helsinki, Finland.
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