Mayhew Cut Javelin Competition Down to Size With Victory in Trials

At 5 feet, 3 inches, Donna Mayhew is one of the world’s smaller women’s javelin throwers. But, after 13 years of competition, she is standing tall despite her size.

Mayhew, 28, has been throwing the javelin since 1975, missing only the 1984 and 1985 seasons when she was injured. And she is finally starting to get the hang of it: In last month’s U. S. Olympic Trials she recorded the longest throw of her career, 208 feet, 10 inches.

It was the first time the Crescenta Valley High graduate surpassed the 200-foot barrier, and not only was it the winning throw at the Trials, it was the only 200-foot throw by an American this year.

“My throw was a personal best by exactly 14 feet,” she said from UC Santa Barbara, site of the U. S. Olympic team’s training camp. “There are two Europeans (East German Petra Felke and 1987 world champion Fatima Whitbread of Britain) who can throw 250 feet, but the rest of the field (competing in the Olympics) drops down to about 220 feet.

“There are a lot of throwers between 200 and 220. And Whitbread and Felke don’t throw 250 feet every day.

“If God is willing, I believe I can throw 220 feet. I’m not going to be awed by the field since I competed in the Goodwill Games against the very best.”

Mayhew, a 1983 graduate of Arizona, finished sixth in the Goodwill Games in Moscow in 1986. She said she was not surprised by her performance in the Trials, because she had been improving steadily this season, reaching her previous personal best of 194-10 to win The Athletics Congress championships in June.

This year, with the help of throwing coach Dave Rider of Cal State Northridge and strength coach Bob Hise of Eagle Rock, Mayhew finally made her breakthrough. Rider is the first throwing coach Mayhew had in four years.

After a second operation on her right elbow in 1983, Mayhew did not throw the javelin for two years “because I wanted to give it a rest.” When she returned to the sport in 1986, she had no coach.

“But for technique help, you need a pair of eyes watching you.”

So last year she hooked up with Rider.

“Now, I would like to reach my potential,” she says. “Some people never do.”