Nepedia
Back to Discover
Fluent Reader
📖

Jan Železný

sports Maturity 11-13 Next article →

Jan Železný is a legendary athlete from the Czech Republic. He is famous for the javelin throw. This sport requires great strength and skill. A javelin is a long, thin spear. Athletes throw it as far as they can. Jan is known as a modern master of this event. He is often called the greatest thrower of his era.

To throw a javelin, an athlete must use much power. Jan was very good at this hard job. He broke the world record four different times. His biggest throw was 98.48 metres. He achieved this amazing feat in 1996. In 1997, he had a very special day in South Africa. He threw the javelin over 90 metres five times in one meet.

Jan's journey began in Mladá Boleslav, Czechoslovakia. He was born there on 16 June 1966. He competed in many big events around the world. He won a silver medal at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. Later, he won gold medals in 1992, 1996, and 2000. He also won World Championship titles in 1993, 1995, and 2001.

Jan faced many strong rivals during his career. He competed against athletes like Steve Backley and Boris Henry. He also raced against Seppo Räty and Aki Parviainen. These matches were great battles of skill. Even after his main career, he remained active. He won a bronze medal in 2006 at the European Championships. He finished his career in his hometown of Mladá Boleslav.

Jan's talent even led him to try a new sport. Four days after his 1996 gold medal win, he tried baseball. He had a tryout as a pitcher for the Atlanta Braves. This happened at Fulton County Stadium in the United States. He did not have much baseball experience. He had only thrown a ball with his young son. He later used his skills to coach others.

310 words

Where will your curiosity go next?

Keep exploring at your chosen reading level.

More to explore

🔬 Go deeper

More advanced topics to explore

🪜 Step back

Simpler topics to build understanding

What is Nepedia?

A free, ad-free encyclopedia for children. Every article is written at five reading levels, so the same page works for a five-year-old and a fifteen-year-old — use the level switcher above to see this one change. No account needed to read.