At the Olympic Games in Tokyo and at the last two World Championships, javelin thrower Julian Weber ended up in an ungrateful fourth place. Things should be different at the Olympics in Paris, where the Mainz player wants to be “invincible”.
“I am more motivated than ever before,” says Julian Weber at SWR Sport with a view to the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. The European javelin throw champion started preparing relatively early and now wants to do everything he can to “be invincible” in Paris.
Olympics 2024: The goal is a medal
Because there is one thing that the man from Mainz definitely wants to avoid in Paris: another 4th place. After the 29-year-old had to be content with the so-called ‘wooden medal’ at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Weber narrowly missed the podium at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene and 2023 in Budapest. Next year, the man from Mainz wants to “leave nothing to chance” and therefore “will no longer allow 4th place”.
The javelin thrower has overcome fourth places in recent major events. Julian Weber says that he is “now more of a guy” and that he now wants to show everyone. After fourth place at the 2022 World Cup, this worked well; a few weeks after the World Cup, Weber became European champion in Munich – his greatest success to date.
Weber: “We have seen a long downward trend in German athletics”
At SWR Sport, the European javelin throw champion also commented on the current situation in German athletics. After Weber narrowly missed the winner’s podium on the last evening of the World Championships in Budapest, it was clear: the German Athletics Association is leaving the World Championships without a single medal. “I think we have now seen a longer downward trend,” says the 29-year-old, but immediately adds “but things can also go forward again.” But something needs to be done to achieve this, for example, young athletes need to be better introduced to competitive sports in the future, says Weber.
When asked whether the Olympic Games in Paris will be better than the World Championships in Paris from a German perspective, the man from Mainz answers cautiously: “That’s difficult to say now.” But if Julian Weber achieves his personal goal and ends up on the podium in Paris, the javelin thrower would single-handedly ensure an improvement, because a medal is better than none at all.
2023-10-16 18:34:40
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