In ancient times, the javelin was a 
wooden spear which competitors 
wrapped with a leather thong, 
leaving a loop at the end through 
which they slipped a finger or two.
After a running start, the athlete 
hurled the javelin, which spun as 
the strap unwound.  Until the 
1950s, competitors were still using 
javelins made of wood (sans 
leather strap) which often broke 
and were expensive to replace.   
The streamlined aluminum javelin 
replaced the wooden one, and its 
very first user, American Bud Held,
 shattered the world record by 
more than 20 feet.  By the 1980s, 
the newest javelins were further 
refined and were capable of 
traveling such distances that they 
had to be banned, because they 
were sailing out of the fields and 
into the stands.  When their use 
was discontinued in 1986, the 
world record plunged by 30 feet.