BEIJING (AP) -Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway has successfully defended his Olympic javelin title in a games record.

Thorkildsen set the Olympic record of 90.57 (297-1) with his fourth throw in Saturday's final, beating Jan Zelezny's mark of 90.17 at Sydney 2000.

Ainars Kovals of Latvia moved two places into the silver medal position with his final attempt of 86.64 meters (284-3), relegating world champion Tero Pitkamaki of Finland to the bronze medal at 86.16 (282-8).