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 | 78.70 m | Kotka, Finland | 16 October 1938 | |
| Olympic record | 72.71 m | Los Angeles, United States | 4 August 1932 |
Schedule
All times are British Summer Time| 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 or at least best 12 qualified.| Rank | Name | Nationality | Result | Notes |
| 1 | Martin Biles | 67.68 | ||
| 2 | Per-Arne Berglund | 67.02 | ||
| 3 | Tapio Rautavaara | 64.68 | ||
| 4 | Gunnar Petersson | 64.04 | ||
| 5 | Steve Seymour | 63.83 | ||
| 6 | Lumír Kiesewetter | 63.25 | ||
| 7 | Odd Mæhlum | 63.00 | ||
| 8 | Mirko Vujačić | 62.53 | ||
| 9 | Pauli Vesterinen | 61.67 | ||
| 10 | József Várszegi | 61.63 | ||
| 11 | Soini Nikkinen | 61.21 | ||
| 12 | Bob Likins | 61.00 | ||
| 13 | Ricardo Héber | 60.82 | ||
| 14 | Raymond Tissot | 58.19 | ||
| 15 | Dušan Vujačić | 57.62 | ||
| 16 | Nico Lutkeveld | 56.25 | ||
| 17 | Jóel Sigurðsson | 55.69 | ||
| 18 | Pedro Apellániz | 54.93 | ||
| 19 | Morville Chote | 54.84 | ||
| 20 | Leo Roininen | 53.92 | ||
| 21 | Malcolm Dalrymple | 53.17 | ||
| 22 | Halil Zıraman | 53.30 | ||
| 23 | Pierre Sprécher | 52.30 |
Final
| Rank | Athlete | Nationality | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Result | Notes |
| Tapio Rautavaara | 69.77 | 57.59 | 59.43 | 61.86 | 58.95 | 69.77 | ||||
| Steve Seymour | 62.37 | 67.56 | 61.72 | 63.58 | 61.00 | 67.56 | ||||
| József Várszegi | 67.03 | 58.14 | 60.29 | 57.53 | 59.71 | 58.35 | 67.03 | |||
| 4 | Pauli Vesterinen | 65.44 | 60.96 | 63.01 | 61.76 | 65.89 | 65.79 | 65.89 | ||
| 5 | Odd Mæhlum | 65.32 | 62.00 | 61.67 | 59.23 | 60.59 | 59.33 | 65.32 | ||
| 6 | Martin Biles | 58.70 | 65.09 | 65.17 | 59.09 | 64.10 | 65.17 | 65.17 | ||
| 7 | Mirko Vujačić | 64.89 | ||||||||
| 8 | Bob Likins | 64.51 | ||||||||
| 9 | Gunnar Petersson | 62.80 | ||||||||
| 10 | Per-Arne Berglund | 62.62 | ||||||||
| 11 | Lumír Kiesewetter | 60.25 | ||||||||
| 12 | Soini Nikkinen | 58.05 |