10 Facts About Uwe Hohn

Uwe Hohn was born on 16 July 1962 and is a retired German track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw.

Uwe Hohn coached Indian track and field athlete Neeraj Chopra, who won the gold in the men's javelin throw at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo.

Uwe Hohn then won gold at the 1982 European Championships with a 91.34 m throw.

Uwe Hohn did not compete at the 1983 World Championships and missed the 1984 Summer Olympics as East Germany had boycotted the games.

In 1985, Uwe Hohn won the IAAF World Cup and European Cup but his career ended in 1986 after several setbacks due to a surgery.

Uwe Hohn's throw shattered the previous world record of 99.72 m set by Tom Petranoff of the United States in May 1983.

Contrary to popular myth, this was not the primary reason for the change in javelin design rules that came into force starting in 1986; the relevant change of moving the javelin's centre of gravity forward by four centimetres had already been officially proposed prior to Uwe Hohn's record throw, not only to shorten distances but to get rid of the then frequent flat or ambiguous landings, which often made it hard to assess if a throw should be declared legal.

However, Uwe Hohn's record-breaking throw accelerated the process as throws of his distance were in danger of going beyond the available space in normal stadiums.

In 2017, Uwe Hohn signed the contract with the Athletics Federation of India for coaching the Indian javelin squad including Junior world record holder Neeraj Chopra till 2020 Summer Olympics to be held in Tokyo.

Uwe Hohn has been married since 1983 and has two children.