2012 the Year of Thorkildsen

In 2012 Norway’s Andreas Thorkildsen will have just one focus retaining his Olympic gold medal in the javelin and therefore achieving “legendry” status by winning three consecutive Olympics. Although his motivation is London, Thorkildsen will want a bold showing in the upcoming ExxonMobil Bislett Games to reaffirm his confidence for later in the year. After a purposely slow start to his competitive season, Thorkildsen showed recently in Ostrava that he is rounding into very good form and that really big throws are imminent. In the past one of the venues where he has excelled is at Oslo’s Bislett stadium where he recorded his personal best throw of 91.59m!

However as in all disciplines at the Samsung Diamond League, there are no easy victories and Andreas Thorkildsen will face the challenge of a typically powerful field of throwers headed by the reigning World Champion Matthais De Zordo of Germany. In 2010 at the European Championships De Zordo was truly competitive and pushed Thorkildsen all the way. 12 months later at the World Championships in Daegu, the German was irresistible and secured the Gold medal with a throw of 86.27m. Although dealing with some injury problems, the left hander is a fearsome competitor and someone that Thorkildsen must deal with not only in Oslo but also in London.

Also challenging in Oslo will be the consistent Czech Vitezslav Veseley a winner in Shanghai and Ostrava, the surprise world leader Stuart Farquhar of New Zealand and former World Champion Tero Pitkämäki of Finland. Thorkildsen may feel “at home” in Oslo but there are many athletes who also crave what he desires – winning in Oslo and later a victory in London.