Question

In the 2020 summer Olympics' Javelin throw finals, Neeraj Chopra exhibited a spectacular performance to win the gold medal. The silver medal was won by Jakub Vadlejch and the bronze medal was won by Vitezlav Vesely. There were six rounds of throws with each athlete having one throw per round. The best of all the throws of each athlete is considered for the medal. Following were the observations about the throws:
(i) The first and second rounds were dominated by Neeraj Chopra with a gold medal performance in his second throw, while the other two athletes did not have any medal winning throws in these rounds.
(ii) The throws in the last round by both Jakub Vadlejch and Vitezlav Vesely were fouls and were not considered for scoring.
(iii) After four rounds, Vitezlav Vesely was in the second position and could not improve upon his best throw in the succeeding rounds.
(iv) In the fourth round, the throw by Jakub Vadlejch was the best in that round.
In which round did Vitezlav Vesely have his best throw?

• A. Third
• B. Fourth
• C. Fifth
• D. Sixth

Hint:

Rule out rounds one by one using each clue in turn: clue (i) removes rounds 1 and 2, clue (ii) removes round 6, clue (iii) removes round 5, and clue (iv) removes round 4.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

Step 1: Set up the deduction as an elimination over the six rounds for Vitezlav Vesely's best (medal winning) throw.
There are six candidate rounds, 1 through 6. Each clue removes one or more of these candidates until only one remains.

Step 2: Apply clue (i).
Clue (i) states that in rounds 1 and 2, only Neeraj Chopra produced a medal winning performance (his eventual gold medal throw came in round 2), and explicitly says the other two athletes, which includes Vitezlav Vesely, did not have any medal winning throws in these two rounds. This directly removes rounds 1 and 2 as possibilities for Vitezlav's best throw.
Remaining candidates: 3, 4, 5, 6.

Step 3: Apply clue (ii).
Clue (ii) states the round 6 throw by Vitezlav Vesely was a foul and was not considered for scoring at all, so it cannot be his best counted throw.
Remaining candidates: 3, 4, 5.

Step 4: Apply clue (iii).
Clue (iii) states that after four rounds Vitezlav was already in second (medal) position, and that he could not improve upon his best throw in the rounds that followed (rounds 5 and 6). This means his best throw was already achieved within rounds 1 to 4, so round 5 cannot be where his best throw occurred.
Remaining candidates: 3, 4.

Step 5: Apply clue (iv).
Clue (iv) states that in round 4 specifically, it was Jakub Vadlejch, not Vitezlav Vesely, who recorded the best throw of that round among the three athletes. Since round 4 is singled out as belonging to Jakub's performance, round 4 is not the round of Vitezlav's own best throw.
Remaining candidate: 3.

Step 6: Conclude.
The only round consistent with all four clues is round 3, so Vitezlav Vesely's best throw occurred in the third round.
\[ \boxed{\text{Third}} \]