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Tero Pitkämäki won bronze in the men's javelin at the Beijing Olympics

Beijing 23 August 2008

Congratulations on your bronze medal, Tero!

Tero Pitkämäki added a bronze medal to his collection in the Beijing javelin final. The bronze medal won by Pitkämäki increased the total Finnish medal tally to four. Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway won the javelin with his throw of 90.57 m. Ainars Kovals of Latvia was second with 86.63 m.

Tero Pitkämäki was slightly disappointed with not being able to fight for the gold medal in the final. However, there were no ifs and buts about the battle for gold because he was powerless against the winning throw of the Norwegian Andreas Thorkildsen on Saturday. Pitkämäki opened the competition by throwing 83.75 m, but lost his way somewhat in further rounds. He could only find the right note for his fourth (85.83) ad sixth throw (86.16). They were Pitkämäki’s best throws since the Joensuu Elite Games in mid-July where his result was 87.17 m.

“90 metres would have required an incredibly good throw. The season has had its problems, but I more or less managed to compete at my own level,” Tero thought after the competition.

Even though the bronze medal was welcome, his targets were set much higher.
“My goal was to fight for gold.
I am happy, however. Medals aren’t won every day. An Olympic medal is a big thing for me,” he said.