If you’re good, you take about 20 seconds from the time you step on the runway to the time you throw the javelin.
Seems simple enough. Two minutes total if you make the finals. Football games have about 11 minutes of action, baseball games about three minutes. So javelin isn’t that brief.
The javelin is easy to pick out at a track meet. Evolved from the spear, the javelin (metal, 1.3 pounds and about 8 feet long) is carried in one hand, palm facing up. The thrower runs about 40 feet and is not allowed to turn his or her back during the throw.