China’s Liu Shiying is the new women’s Olympic javelin champion after her first attempt in Friday’s final was enough to secure the gold medal.
The 27-year-old, who threw a season’s best 66.34 meters, adds the Olympic title to her Asian Games gold and 2019 World Championship silver medal.
China have now won 36 gold medals at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
"It means a lot to me and my country. I want to thank everyone, my team, my country and also my parents," Liu said. “2020 was a very difficult year for me because of the injury and of the pandemic, but I got all the support and encouragement from all of them," she added.
She also said she was "very satisfied" with her performance.
"The most difficult thing for me was to have a breakthrough on my mind, although I improved my technique. But I didn’t have the opportunity to perform and get a better form (before)," she said.
Poland’s Maria Andrejczyk won silver with a throw of 64.61 meters with Australia’s Kelsey-Lee Barber taking bronze with 64.56m, her best performance of the season.