Friday, April 11, 2014

J IS FOR JAVELIN



Death by Javelin


A javelin is a spear: a long thin piece of wood, plastic, or metal with a pointed end, used as a weapon or thrown in field competitions such as track-and-field events in which the contestants compete to throw a javelin as far as possible.

 Wikipedia
Learn more about the javelin's use as a hunting tool, a weapon of war, and for competitions by following this link!



While I found no murders committed with a javelin I did find several accidental deaths from javelin throws. In Dusseldorf Germany, a fifteen-year-old javelin thrower accidentally killed an athletics official on the field. 

Sad story, and I can't imagine the horror this young man must feel. 



The victim was a 74-year-old German athletics official who was hit in the throat by the young man's throw of the javelin. He stepped out on the field to take a measurement and was hit. Such tragedy!

 A teacher at Liverpool College died after being struck by the blunt end of the sports spear. In North Dakota, a 17 year-old girl dies after being struck by a javelin after she cut across the javelin field - unbelievable! 
Read more here: 
&  
Struck by Javelin, Girl 17, dies



A truly formidable weapon 
but would you replace your baseball bat with it?


If you want to join in on the fun of Arlee Bird's blog hop The A to Z Challenge just go HERE!
 

12 comments:

  1. A tragic tale Yolanda .. imagine.
    Already I'm wondering about tomorrow's one - knuckle, knife ..?
    Have a great weekend!
    Garden of Eden Blog

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gosh, that would haunt you throughout your life if you killed someone in that way.

    Shelley Munro

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh my gosh what a terrible accident. That poor kid.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Tragic but at least not on purpose. Matt held his school javelin record, not sure it's ever been beaten. Not checked in some years.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jo, thanks for steering me to this blog! It's great.
      Deb@ http://debioneille.blogspot.com

      Delete
  5. Yolanda Renee, what a sad but interesting post. I came to your blog through a referral from Jo, one of your followers, and now I'm following too. Great blog. Excellent subject. See you around the A to Z. Deb@ http://debioneille.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. Holy smoke, Yolanda, you’ve got J up already! I’m so far behind… You must be one of those super-efficient types!
    So the javelin, I never thought another thing of it – just another sport. But after reading this and checking out your links, I had one of those weird, rare moments in which one might look at a word in the English language and suddenly be struck by how strange a word it seems; likewise, throwing a spear in this day and age. Horrible way to die, I'd imagine.
    Miss A

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow that has to be awful to live with, remind me to avoid all javelin events

    ReplyDelete
  8. I can't imagine how much force would have to be behind the throw to still be able to kill someone downfield from it. And what a horrid death that would be.

    ReplyDelete
  9. In the mid-80's I was on the track preparing to take part in the 5,000 metres. A fellow athlete (not a javelin competitor) lifted a javelin to throw it back to the thrower. In a casual, no-run-up, the non-competing guy threw it and it landed beside the astonished trained athletes. It frightened the living daylights out of most of the field athletes. The non-competitor was taken into training and became one of the best javelin throwers our unit ever had.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I recall a javelin accident was featured in one of the episodes of 1000 Ways to Die. I had the creeps for the rest of the night.

    ReplyDelete

Would love to hear from you, say hello and leave your blog address - I'll visit, but please take with you my undying gratitude that you stopped by for a read. Be well, be happy, and may your blog surfing bring you joy!