Olympics rocked by horrifying near-miss for javelin official amid 'devastating' scenes for Aussie

A Paris Olympics official's lapse in judgement could have ended in disaster on Saturday night as they were centimetres away from being struck by Jo-Ane van Dyk's spear. In the javelin final, van Dyk was trying to better her previous throw of 63.93m in an attempt to overtake eventual gold medal winner Haruka Kitaguchi's 65.80m throw.

As she gave it everything, the spear sailed towards an official who was engrossed in the adjacent high jump competition. The javelin landed just centimetres away from the female judge who was none the wiser until it was pointed out by a fellow official.

The official standing on the side of the measured area then jumped in shock realising how lucky she was to not be impaled. "She was watching the high jump ... it can happen, you've got to pay attention when there's spears in the air," Steve Hooker said on Nine's Olympic broadcast.

Last year Kitaguchi needed her final throw to take the gold in Budapest, but she didn't have to sweat it out anywhere near as much at the Stade de France as she started with her best throw of the season. South Africa's van Dyk and Czech Republic's Nikola Ogrodnikova made valiant efforts to beat her 65.80m throw but never looked likely to top it, as they claimed silver and bronze with throws of 63.93m and 63.68m.

"I cannot believe this. This wasn't easy for me. Before, I couldn't train well, but my physio and my team believed in me. Without their help, I cannot get gold today," Kitaguchi told reporters.

"Actually, my training throw wasn't good. It was too much. But this time, I can throw 65.80, so for me, really good."

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Australia's javelin duo fail to medal in Paris

Having eclipsed the javelin Olympic gold medal mark less than a month ago, Australia's Mackenzie Little was left to wonder what could have been after failing to register a significant throw in Paris. The 27-year-old threw a personal best of 66.27 metres at the London Diamond League meet in late July, leading many to believe a gold medal was on the cards for Australia.

Despite an impressive world championship history, including Little's third place last year, Olympic javelin gold has eluded Australia. Louise McPaul's 1996 silver medal is the best result in women's javelin in Australian Olympic history, while Kelsey-Lee Barber won bronze in Toyko.

And despite hopes that a gold medal could be heading to Australia's Little, she finished last in Saturday night's final. The best throw she could manage was 60.32m on her first throw - well shy of her personal best from London - which commentator Gerard Whateley described as 'devastating' for her.

"People were expecting some big throws tonight and I wish I could have been throwing them," said Little. "I'm disappointed in my performance in the final.

"I was confident and I've been able to perform in majors. I just thought the whole time that I could do it. There was no reason that I couldn't and so I think that just makes it harder. There's no excuses ... it could have been different, which is a hard thing to swallow."

Her Australian teammate, four-time Olympian Kathryn Mitchell, bid farewell to the Olympics with a seventh-placed finish with a season-best of 62.63. The 42-year-old was competing in just her second meet after rupturing her calf in April and announced it would be her final Olympic Games appearance.

"I did the best I could do with what I've done so I have to walk away satisfied and happy with that," Mitchell said. "It's not a goodbye right now. But it's certainly the end of my place in Olympic history."

with AAP