Scherwin to pursue Olympic dream in Beijing 16. January 08

Denmark’s only female Athletics medal-hope in Beijing, javelin thrower Christina Scherwin is looking more optimistic in terms of her participation at the Olympic Games.

After seeing her 2007 season ruined by injuries, Scherwin decided to undergo surgery on her painful shoulder three months ago. Last Friday she then returned to Philadelphia to have the surgeon examine her shoulder, and the doctor confirmed the healing had progressed better than expected.

Scherwin, who was elected to the IAAF Athletes Commission in Osaka, was given the green light to start throwing again.

”This is really great news. It is three weeks earlier than expected because the rehabilitation has worked out so well. And it means that I now can go further on with the next important step in my programme,” the Eugene-based athlete told after the consultation.

Breakthrough in Helsinki 2005

The 31-year-old Dane saw her international breakthrough at the IAAF World Championships in Helsinki 2005, when she came in as a surprisingly 4th after having improved the National record twice in a memorable final.

In 2006 she was able follow up the success when taking the fifth spot at the European Championships in Gothenburg – this time only 19cm short of a medal.

At the IAAF World Athletics Final in Stuttgart she then produced a carrier best with a massive effort of 64.81m – currently placing her in 20th place in the all-time list.

Growing up in Aarhus, Denmark, Christina seemed destined to pick up the tennis racket – her aunt being one of the best local players – but the stadium located next to the tennis courts (where some 20 years later she would produce the current stadium record of 64.06m) soon became more interesting to the 11-year-old girl.

She started out as a talented heptathlete, but soon it became obvious that her greatest talent was in throwing the javelin. At 17 – a few years before the first IAAF World Youth Championships was staged – she set a national junior record at the European Junior Championships taking the sixth spot.

The following year (1994) she improved to fifth place – 18cm short of a medal - at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Lisbon. It looked like the first steps towards a great carrier, but soon injuries would put a hold to her progression.

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