Dainis KÅ«la

Dainis Kūla (Russian Дайнис Элмарович Кула, Dainis Kula Elmarowitsch; born April 28, 1959 in Tukums ) is a former Latvian javelin thrower, the Olympic champion was starting for the Soviet Union.

Kūla, who grew up in Ventspils had exceeded before the Olympic Games in 1980 with the spear, the 90 -meter mark, so that he was among the favorites. In the qualification of the games in Moscow, he laid 85.76 m before the third largest expanse behind the world record holder Paragi Ferenc from Hungary and Wolfgang Hanisch from the GDR. In the final, against a third attempt Wolfgang Hanisch with 86.72 m in front Kulas teammates Heino Puuste and Alexander Makarov. Kūla had two invalid attempts and Paragi had not yet fallen, the 80 -meter mark. While Paragi blundered in the third attempt, the spear of Kūla flew very far, but ended up very flat. Nevertheless, an attempt has been given valid and Kūla took over 88.88 m the top. His fourth attempt was measured with 91,20 m, followed by two invalid attempts. Kūla won gold against Makarov, who was able to increase in the last two tests yet, and Hanisch. To finish off the season Kūla threw 92.06 m.

At the European Championships in 1982 Kūla finished with 87.84 m in fourth place. A year later, he finished third at the World Championships in 1983. He lay with 85.58 m, although nearly four meters behind the world champion Detlef Michel from the GDR, but only two inches behind the second-placed American Tom Petranoff. Kūla won from 1981 to 1983 the javelin championship of the Soviet Union.

In 1986, when the new spear was introduced Kūla could not zoom throw at the world-class, although he continued his career for a long time and also took part again in international competitions after the independence of Latvia.

Dainis Kūla is 1,90 m tall and weighed about 98 kg competition times.