Athletics at the 1948 Summer Olympics – Men's javelin throw
# Athletics at the 1948 Summer Olympics – Men's javelin throw

The men's javelin throw event was part of the track and field athletics programme at the 1948 Summer Olympics. The competition was held on August 4. The final was won by Tapio Rautavaara from Finland.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

| World record | Yrjö Nikkanen (FIN) | 78.70 m | Kotka, Finland | 16 October 1938 |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Olympic record | Matti Järvinen (FIN) | 72.71 m | Los Angeles, United States | 4 August 1932 |

## Schedule

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)

| Date | Time | Round |
| - | - | - |
| Wednesday, 4 August 1948 | 11:00 | Qualifications |
| Wednesday, 4 August 1948 | 14:30 | Finals |

## Results

### Qualifying round

Qual. rule: qualification standard 64.00m (Q) or at least best 12 qualified (q).

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Result | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Martin Biles | United States | 67.68 | Q |
| 2 | Per-Arne Berglund | Sweden | 67.02 | Q |
| 3 | Tapio Rautavaara | Finland | 64.68 | Q |
| 4 | Gunnar Petersson | Sweden | 64.04 | Q |
| 5 | Steve Seymour | United States | 63.83 | q |
| 6 | Lumír Kiesewetter | Czechoslovakia | 63.25 | q |
| 7 | Odd Mæhlum | Norway | 63.00 | q |
| 8 | Mirko Vujačić | Yugoslavia | 62.53 | q |
| 9 | Pauli Vesterinen | Finland | 61.67 | q |
| 10 | József Várszegi | Hungary | 61.63 | q |
| 11 | Soini Nikkinen | Finland | 61.21 | q |
| 12 | Bob Likins | United States | 61.00 | q |
| 13 | Ricardo Héber | Argentina | 60.82 | |
| 14 | Raymond Tissot | France | 58.19 | |
| 15 | Dušan Vujačić | Yugoslavia | 57.62 | |
| 16 | Nico Lutkeveld | Netherlands | 56.25 | |
| 17 | Jóel Sigurðsson | Iceland | 55.69 | |
| 18 | Pedro Apellániz | Spain | 54.93 | |
| 19 | Morville Chote | Great Britain | 54.84 | |
| 20 | Leo Roininen | Canada | 53.92 | |
| 21 | Malcolm Dalrymple | Great Britain | 53.17 | |
| 22 | Halil Zıraman | Turkey | 53.30 | |
| 23 | Pierre Sprécher | France | 52.30 | |

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Nationality | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Result |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | Tapio Rautavaara | Finland | 69.77 | x | 57.59 | 59.43 | 61.86 | 58.95 | 69.77 |
| | Steve Seymour | United States | x | 62.37 | 67.56 | 61.72 | 63.58 | 61.00 | 67.56 |
| | József Várszegi | Hungary | 67.03 | 58.14 | 60.29 | 57.53 | 59.71 | 58.35 | 67.03 |
| 4 | Pauli Vesterinen | Finland | 65.44 | 60.96 | 63.01 | 61.76 | 65.89 | 65.79 | 65.89 |
| 5 | Odd Mæhlum | Norway | 65.32 | 62.00 | 61.67 | 59.23 | 60.59 | 59.33 | 65.32 |
| 6 | Martin Biles | United States | 58.70 | 65.09 | 65.17 | 59.09 | 64.10 | 65.17 | 65.17 |
| 7 | Mirko Vujačić | Yugoslavia | | | | | | | 64.89 |
| 8 | Bob Likins | United States | | | | | | | 64.51 |
| 9 | Gunnar Petersson | Sweden | | | | | | | 62.80 |
| 10 | Per-Arne Berglund | Sweden | | | | | | | 62.62 |
| 11 | Lumír Kiesewetter | Czechoslovakia | | | | | | | 60.25 |
| 12 | Soini Nikkinen | Finland | | | | | | | 58.05 |
