Jarvenpaa could well spring a surprise in this event. In the recent Finnish Championships (24-27th July 2008) he shocked the Finnish public by beating the Finnish legend (2007 World Champion and World No.1) Pitkamaki with a personal best throw of 86.68m (Pitkamaki only threw 82.28m - he has 'technical problems').
1. Tero Järvenpää FIN 86.68
2. Tero Pitkämäki FIN 82.28
3. Esko Mikkola FIN 79.87
Ranked 4th in the world, Jarvenpaa could just be peaking a the right time. The other major challenger is the World No. 2 Norwegian Andreas Thorkildsen who won in Athens 2004. These three athletes filled the first three spots at the Bislet Games in Oslo in June 2008 when they finished as follows.
1 Thorkildsen , Andreas NOR 87.73
2 Järvenpää , Tero FIN 86.49
3 Pitkämäki , Tero FIN 85.92
Perhaps the Finnish public should not have been so suprised in teh Finnish Championships....
(In addition, Thokildsen threw a 87.36 in Stockholm in July 08).
I am more than happy to take a chance on Jarvanpaa at 12-1 rather than Pitkamaki at a top priced 6-4 (Pitkamaki is very much underpriced). Thokildsen is probably correctly priced at 5-2 (although he should perhaps be a 2-1 chance). I'd make Jarvanpaa approx 4-1 (at most). The other Javelin thrower at a good price is Australian Jarrod Bannister - he looks overpriced at 20-1, but I will stick to a single bet.
Youtube video of 86.68m throw (in Finnish)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvXdfPsUKCM
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