Top favorite Johannes Vetter retired early in the javelin final of the Olympic Games in Tokyo. 82.52 meters were not enough on Saturday to reach the medal round of the last eight throwers. The 28-year-old from Offenburg was only ninth. Vetter traveled to Japan with 19 wins and as the best of the year in the world. Already in the qualification, which he only survived in the third attempt with 85.54 meters, Vetter was already not in top form. Thomas Röhler won gold at the Rio Games five years ago. The Jena player had to miss the Tokyo Games due to a back injury.
Former javelin world champion Christina Obergföll reacted disappointed to the failure.
"This is really a drama, a catastrophe," said the 39-year-old on Saturday at the public viewing in the ZDF interview.
She is the wife of Vetter's trainer Boris Obergföll.
"I'm deeply sad for Johannes, for Boris, for the fans in Offenburg, for the club," she said with tears.
Despite a strong performance, Konstanze Klosterhalfen was unable to intervene in the fight for a medal over 10,000 meters.
The German record holder from Leverkusen remained wafer-thinly above her national record with a time of 31: 01.97 minutes, placing her in eighth place behind overwhelming competition.
"Eighth - that makes me really proud and happy," said Klosterhalfen on ZDF.
Sifan Hassan from the Netherlands won in 29: 55.32 minutes and took her second gold in Tokyo. She had previously won over 5000 meters, making her only the second runner after the Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba in Beijing in 2008, who managed the double over the two longest stadium courses. Born in Ethiopia, Hassan wanted to win the historic gold triple in Japan, but on Friday she was “only” third over 1500 meters. Silver went to Kalkidan Ezahegne (Bahrain / 29: 56.18), world record holder Letensebet Giday (Ethiopia / 30: 01.71) had to be content with bronze.
Klosterhalfen held up for 4000 meters at the end of the leading group until it had to be demolished after increasing the pace. At the end of February, she had improved the German record over 10,000 meters to 31: 01.71 minutes in the USA, the center of her life and training. After that, however, they had slowed down stubborn pelvic problems, and it wasn't until the end of July that they competed again in a test competition over 5000 meters. No German runner has ever won an Olympic medal over 10,000 meters, Kathrin Ullrich finished fourth in Seoul in 1988.
At the meeting in Hengelo, the Netherlands, on June 6, Hassan had improved the world record of the Ethiopian Almaz Ayana, which she had achieved in her 2016 Olympic victory in Rio de Janeiro, by almost eleven seconds to 29: 06.82. Giday was only 48 hours faster at the same place in the Ethiopian Olympic eliminations (29: 01.03).