Pauli Nevala

Pauli Nevala was not considered a favorite at the 1964 Olympics as he failed to qualify at the 1962 European Championships and although his personal best was 86.33, done in 1963, Nevala had major problems even breaking 80 metres in 1964. At the Olympics, the world record holder Terje Pedersen did not make the final and other favorites performed well below their form, allowing Nevala to take the gold medal with a throw of 82.66 in the fourth round.

After the Olympics, Nevala fell back to relative obscurity, finishing fourth at the 1966 Europeans and his attempt to defend his Olympic title at the 1968 Olympics was cut short in qualifying. In 1969 his career had a major resurgence, as he finally broke his six-year-old personal best multiple times and won a silver medal at the 1969 European Championships. In 1970, he was arguably the best javelin thrower in the world winning 50 out of his 55 competitions. In 1970 Nevala also threw his personal best of 92.64, only 6 cm short of Jorma Kinnunen’s world record. In addition to the world’s best performance of the year, Nevala was world ranked #1 by Track & Field News. He later openly attributed this resurgence to anabolic steroids, which were not banned at the time. Nevala’s career came to an abrupt end in April 1971, when, in his very first competition of the year, he injured his shoulder so badly he could never again throw seriously. Nevala was also a Finnish champion in 1961-63 and 1967. Later Nevala worked as an athletics coach and sports official in his home town of Teuva.

Personal Best: JT – 92.64 (1970).