The women's javelin throw was an event at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. The qualifying round mark was set at 43.00m. Five athletes didn't surpass that distance in the heats.

Summary Nadezhda Konyayeva entered as the world record holder, having set the record almost 3 years earlier. Dana Zátopková was the returning champion. The leading qualifier was 18 year old Karen Anderson, throwing 49.64m on her first attempt. But she was unable to match that in the final. On her first throw of the final, Inese Jaunzeme set the Olympic record with a 51.63m throw. Ingrid Almqvist moved into second with a 49.74m while Konyayeva was third. With a 50.28m in the second round, Konyayeva moved into second place, with Zátopková moving into third. The medal positions held until the fifth round when Marlene Ahrens threw 50.38m to leap from fifth place to silver. On her final attempt for punctuation, Jaunzeme added more than two meters, almost seven feet to the Olympic record, throwing . Ahrens was the first Olympic medal for a Chilean woman.

Medalists GoldSilverBronze

Results Qualification Qualifying distance: 43.00 metres Rank Athlete Nation 1 2 3 Distance Notes 1 Karen Anderson 49.64 49.64 Q 2 Urszula Figwer 47.76 47.76 Q 3 Nadezhda Konyayeva 47.19 47.19 Q 4 Dana Zátopková 47.05 47.05 Q 5 Marlene Ahrens 46.43 46.43 Q 6 Inese Jaunzeme 46.19 46.19 Q 7 Marjorie Larney 39.04 36.89 45.80 45.80 Q 8 Yoriko Shida 38.50 45.37 45.37 Q 9 Erzsébet Vígh 44.60 44.60 Q 10 Almut Brömmel 44.55 44.55 Q 11 Amelia Wershoven 44.39 44.39 Q 12 Anna Wojtaszek 44.08 44.08 Q 14 Ingrid Almqvist 43.47 43.47 Q 15 Paola Paternoster 39.69 42.68 41.25 42.68 16 Margaret George 33.56 36.62 39.73 39.73 17 Maureen Wright 36.75 38.81 36.91 38.81 18 Heather Innes 38.72 35.57 x 38.72 19 June Heath 35.76 38.10 x 38.10

Final Rank Athlete Nation 1 2 3 4 5 6 Distance Notes Inese Jaunzeme 51.63 46.62 50.46 53.40 49.08 53.86 53.86 Marlene Ahrens 47.47 49.36 44.68 46.30 50.38 39.31 50.38 Nadezhda Konyayeva 49.48 50.28 46.24 47.39 44.51 44.40 50.28 4 Dana Zátopková 43.52 49.83 47.07 47.59 49.81 41.59 49.83 5 Ingrid Almqvist 49.74 43.58 45.06 48.24 43.06 41.17 49.74 6 Urszula Figwer 44.28 48.16 42.54 42.81 43.02 45.64 48.16 7 Erzsébet Vígh 46.69 48.07 47.38 48.07 8 Karen Anderson 47.28 48.00 41.76 48.00 9 Anna Wojtaszek 46.92 46.27 45.36 46.92 10 Erika Raue 43.27 x 45.87 45.87 11 Marjorie Larney 41.44 45.27 42.09 45.27 12 Yoriko Shida 44.96 43.34 37.20 44.96 13 Almut Brömmel 40.72 42.37 44.67 44.67 14 Amelia Wershoven 44.29 40.45 32.59 44.29

References

External links Official Report Results