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WorldNet Service Installation Disk - Cybercathlon Games and Interactive Tour of Olympic Museum (1996).ISO
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00829_Field_st6.txt.txt
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1996-06-03
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868b
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26 lines
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.