If, during a future job interview, Sophia Rivera is asked if she is able to multi-task, she now has a ready made answer.

Thursday  night, in the World Youth Games, she competed in the shot put and javelin finals…at the same time.

She literally had to take a throw in the shot, cross the infield, take a throw in the jav, and then head back to the shot.

And threw great in both events, finishing eighth in the jav with a throw of 50.85m, and second in the shot with a sixth-round put of 17.93m.

According to Sophia’s mom, “the IAAF officials allowed her to throw anywhere in the order but it had to be in the given round or it would be a pass. She warmed up for javelin at the practice track but once inside the stadium only warmed up for shot. The shot put start list had her throwing last – she chose to throw 2nd in the order and then it was off to the races!  She had time to change shoes, but not much…  After her 4th throw in the Jav, she knew her chances were better to medal in the shot, so she passed her last two javelin throws.”

Sophia’s coach, Ron Eichaker, was not surprised by her poise. According to Ron, “Her performance yesterday represented a culmination of all her training both physical and mental over the past several years.”

Ron pointed out that Sophia trains at least two and sometimes three different events at a typical practice session. “Each session lasts between 90 and 120  minutes. As we transition from one discipline to the other, I work with her on subtle mental imaging. Over time, it conditions her mind to compartmentalize.”

Providing an additional boost Thursday night in Cali, was the fact that Sophia was representing her country. “After all,” continued Ron, “it was all for her team. She knows that she is part of something bigger than herself and she was honored to answer when her events were called.”

Sophia’s next chance to represent the US will be at the Pan Am Juniors in Edmonton, Canada over the weekend of July 31st. Though she will be competing against older athletes (NCAA champion Raven Saunders for one) it promises to be a relaxing weekend for Sophia as she will be competing only in the shot.

 

 

How about that final round in the women’s shot?

And who is Jessica Ramsey?

This person.

Who is this person, and how many of you had heard of her before she opened with 18.42m last night?

Turns out she is a Western Kentucky grad who now trains with John Smith in Carbondale. After the competition, John described her as “dynamite in a box.”

I guess.

And watch out for her in Saturday’s hammer competition. She threw 69.47m in May and she’s got the SIU mojo going for her.

Speaking of which, I’m a little embarrassed that I picked Raven Saunders to qualify in the shot and not Jeneva Stevens.  Raven is a sensational young thrower, but in hindsight I should have realized that it was going to take nearly 19 meters to make the top three and she is not quite ready for that yet.

Jeneva, on the other hand, had the physical maturity and the big meet experience to trade punches with that very, very formidable field of putters.

Ah well, live and learn.

And congrats to Jeneva, who may very well make the team in the hammer as well.

One more thought regarding the women’s shot.  The top two finishers were gliders: Michelle Carter and Tia Brooks. Jeneva, the third place finisher, is a spinner who used to be a glider and still glides on every other practice throw. Could it be that the key to succeeding in major shot competitions is either to glide or to make your spin as glider-like as possible?

More on that at another time.

Right now, here are our picks for the remaining throwing events.

Women’s Javelin (“A” standard = 61 meters)

No need to equivocate here. Two throwers will qualify for Beijing.

Kara Winger…

…who made it quite clear earlier in the season that she had finally recovered from major knee surgery thank you very much by tossing 66.47m on May 2nd.

Kara will be joined by Brittany Borman…

…who hit a season best 64.75m, also in May.

To quote Forest Gump, “That’s all I have to say about that.”

Women’s Hammer (“A” standard = 70 meters)

The contenders:

Amber Campbell…

…a two-time USATF champion who has the best throw by an American this year, 72.81m.

Amanda Bingson…

…the defending USATF champion who has thrown 70.94m this season.

The John Smith Crew…

DeAnna Price…

…the freshly crowned NCAA champion with a PR of 71.49m…

Jeneva Stevens…

…who qualified in the shot put last night and has hit 72.69m this season.

You can find an interview I did a couple of weeks ago with Jeneva here: https://throwholics.com/2015/06/q-a-with-jeneva-stevens-prior-the-usa-championships/

…and, the aforementioned Jessica Ramsey.

Another potential contender is Britney Henry…

…a veteran who broke 71 meters this year (71.08m to be exact) for the first time since 2010.

Who goes to Beijing?

Campbell: In what will likely be a very close competition, experience will see her through.

Bingson:  American record holder. Two time defending national champion. She has not thrown any bombs this year. Actually, she has not thrown much this year at all. Our guess is that, like Michelle Carter in the shot, she is picking her spots.

Stevens: After that performance in the shot, how can we bet against her?

 

Women’s Disc (“A” standard = 61 meters)

There are four legit contenders for three spots here.

Whitney Ashley…

…who has thrown 64.80m this year. That throw came in Claremont, California, but over the years she has shown that she can consistently break 60 meters in stadiums.

Shelbi Vaughan…

…the NCAA champion with a PB of 64.52m.

Liz Podominick…

…who hit 63.87m earlier this year (although again at Claremont) and has finished in the top 3 at the last two US Championships.

You can read a recent interview I did with Liz here: https://throwholics.com/2015/06/q-a-with-liz-podominick-at-new-york-diamond-league-meeting/

Gia Lewis-Smallwood…

…one of the most successful American discus throwers ever. She has thrown 69 meters and defeated Sandra Perkovic twice in the past two years.

Who goes to Beijing?

Gia: She has struggled this season. An infection in the index finger of her throwing hand has held her back. But, like Michelle Carter, she  is the dominant American in her event until proven otherwise.

Ashley: She will very likely throw 60 meters in this meet, and that will be enough. Also, Trofimuk and I saw her come out of nowhere to win the NCAA title in Des Moines. And we…have not…forgotten.

Vaughan: Has dominated at the collegiate and junior level. Last year, she threw 63.60m in Lexington, Kentucky. This year, she threw 64.52m in Starkville, Mississippi.  We are not saying that they don’t have wind in those places, but it is refreshing to see an American whose PR was not set in California.

 

Men’s Shot (“A” standard = 20.45m…but really, who cares? You will have to go nearly a meter beyond that to make the US team)

All the contenders should take turns treating Reese Hoffa to dinner, because by winning last year’s Diamond League shot title he earned an automatic spot in Beijing, thus opening a place for three additional US putters.

The Contenders:

Too many to talk about.

Who (besides Reese) goes to Beijing?

Joe Kovacs…

…who, for the first time since Adam Nelson in 2000, has  made 22-meter throws look pedestrian.

Jordan Clarke…

…who has thrown 21 meters in each of his two Diamond League appearances. Great under pressure. Coach Dave Dumble once described him as “having it between the ears.” Translation: he does not choke. Plus, Trofimuk and I saw him win two NCAA titles in Des Moines, so we are big fans.

You can read an interview I recently conducted with Jordan here: https://throwholics.com/2015/06/q-a-with-jordan-clarke-at-new-york-diamond-league-meeting/

Ryan Whiting…

…who, by his standards, is not having a great year. However, his standards are too high for most mere mortals. He will throw 21 meters and make the team.

Here’s hoping for an action-packed weekend of throws!

 

Coach Trofimuk and I finally had a chance to sit down and ponder on this day before the USA Championships begin. Day One features several throwing events. Let’s get at it.

Men’s Javelin (“A” standard = 82 meters)

The contenders:

Tim Glover (the dude on the left)

He has the best throw by an American this year: 84.09m.

He and Sean Furey…

…are the only two throwers who have hit the standard. Sean has thrown 82.59m.

However, Riley Dolezal (the dude on the right)

 

…may be the most consistent American jav thrower at the moment. At the New York Diamond League meet, he threw 80 meters on four of six throws in a stadium with a less than ideal javelin wind.

Oregon’s Sam Crouser…

 

 

 

…just won the NCAA title in his home stadium (where the USA Championships will be contested) with a respectable toss of 79.19m.

Who is going to Beijing?

Glover: He already has the A standard.

Furey: He also has the A standard.

Dolezal: He has the hot hand. We predict that he will win and achieve the A standard in the process.

 

Men’s Hammer (“A” standard = 76 meters)

The contenders:

Michael Lihrman…

…who is coming off a heart-breaking performance at the NCAA meet in which he fouled his first two throws and then did not make the final. Lihrman has yet to reach the A standard.

Kibwe Johnson…

…who is currently two centimeters under the A standard.

AG Kruger…

…who has been national champion about a billion times and has the A standard.

Conor McCullough…

…who has thrown in excess of 75 meters two meets in a row and has the A standard. He threw 76.91m at the NCAA championships and has recently transitioned from Irish to American.

Who is going to Beijing?

McCullough: He has the standard and is on fi-yah! Plus, he has the natural awesomeness of the Irish on his side.

Kruger: He is very, very old, but he has the standard, and in this competition that will mean a lot.  Plus, the hammer will be held early enough in the day that he won’t have to DVR that night’s Matlock rerun. This eliminates a major potential distraction.

Men’s Discus (“A” standard = 65 meters)

Three throwers currently have the standard.

Jared Schuurmans…

…who is currently the US leader (66.10m) but that throw came at Claremont College in California, a notoriously friendly place to throw.

Chase Madison…

…who hit 65.42m in a meet at Augustana College which featured an epic discus wind. His next best throw was 61.58m May 2nd at the University of Iowa.

And Rodney Brown…

 

…who was my pick to win the NCAA title and made me look really, really bad by finishing 9th.

Who is going to Beijing?

Honest answer? ZZzzzzzzz.

It is quite possible that Schuurmans, Madison, and Brown will all make the team because no one else will hit the standard. But what does that say about the status of the men’s discus in this country right now?

Women’s Shot (“A” standard = 17.75m)

This will be a war. There are currently thirteen American women over the standard, so if you want to make the team you will have to strap it up and  finish in the top three.

Here are the contenders:

Michelle Carter…

…the American record holder who has tons of big meet experience. Also, she is a large, powerful glider and if you don’t recognize what an advantage that is in a tough shot put competition, you have not been paying attention.

Tia Brooks…

…another veteran powerhouse glider.

 

Felisha Johnson…

…also powerful, also a glider…

Jill Camarena-Williams…

…a former World Championship medalist making a comeback from time off to have a child…

Brittany Smith…

.

…who threw 19.01m indoors and has been accruing valuable international experience during the outdoor season…

And Raven Saunders…

 

…the precocious NCAA champion and Junior Record holder.

And don’t forget about Jeneva Stevens, Tori Bliss, Dani Winters and  Dani Bunch.

Enough equivocating, here are our picks:

Carter (a consistent dominator, and we saw her throw the American record in Des Moines so we love her)

Smith ( has been throwing well on the DL circuit, and was Trof’s college teammate so we love her)

(We could not agree on the third spot, and since I would likely lose any sort of fist fight, tickle fight or wrestling match, we have made separate choices)

Trof:

Camarena-Williams (she is a veteran and Trof loves the spin)

McQ:

Saunders (I know, I know. She’s very young, but if you had John Smith–the Dark Master of Peaking–on your side I’d pick you too)

 

 

Pat Trofimuk is a large man with a sensitive side and an extensive knowledge of NCAA throwers. Pat competed at Illinois State University alongside NCAA javelin champ Tim Glover (who will be competing this weekend at the Adidas Grand Prix Diamond League meet in New York) and multiple NCAA medal winner Brittany Smith (who competed on Sunday in the Birmingham DL meet).

So when Pat talks, whether about choosing the proper stuffed animal or predicting NCAA throws winners, I listen.

I hope you will, too. This is the final part of our NCAA throws preview.

Women

Raven Saunders of Southern Illinois won the indoor meet with a titanic put of 18.62m.

LSU’s Tori Bliss was a close second indoors with a nearly-as-titanic toss of 18.67m.

 

Meanwhile, Wisconsin’s Kelsey Card…

 

…Kansas State’s Dani Winters…

 

…Missouri’s Jill Rushin…

 

…and Kent State’s Danniel Thomas…

 

…have all thrown 17.50m+ this outdoor season.

Not to be forgotten is Iowa State’s Christina Hillman…

 

…the defending champion who has a PB of 18.15m from the 2014 indoor campaign and has thrown 17.45m outdoors this year.

And the champion will be…

Raven has gone 18 meters twice outdoors, most recently an 18.12m toss at her conference meet.

Tori has hit 18 meters just once outside, but it was a big one: 18.49m at the LSU Invitational on May 2.

No one else has the horsepower right now to hang with those two.

This is a tough one for me because I am friends with Tori’s high school coach Mark Harsha of Portage, Indiana, but I also have great respect for Raven’s coach at SIU, John Smith.

Trof is going with Tori.

I’m putting my money on Raven as Smith is the Dark Genius of big meet preparation.

Wild Card: Hillman. She has had, for her, a mediocre outdoor season, but she has been through the wars and has the consistency of the glide technique on her side.

 

Men

It takes a world class shot putter to win the NCAA men’s title.

Need proof?

Defending outdoor champion Ryan Crouser of Texas (21.14m)…

 

…and indoor champ Stipe Zunic of Florida (21.11m)…

 

…are currently ranked 8th and 9th in the world.

Darrell Hill of Penn State (20.86m)…

…ranks 15th.

A few centimeters behind Hill lurks Buffalo’s Jon Jones …

…who hit 20.70m on April 2, and has gone 20.33m as recently as his conference meet.

Throw in Cornell’s Stephen Mozia and his 20.18m toss from April 18,..

 

…and you have yourself what could pass for a pretty good Diamond League field.

And the champion will be…

Hill is a brute. Fast. Strong. Technically sound. I would not be surprised to see him succeed on the international circuit a couple of years from now.

Jones is a monster as well. He hit that 20.70m throw in spite of training through a knee injury that has bothered him the entire year.

Mozia is fast! And really fun to watch.

Crouser is the  two-time defending champ who seems like he has been throwing at an elite level since he was about twelve. He is also incredibly powerful. Two years ago when he won his first title he had, I believe, one fair throw out of six. That was a “safety” throw that one of the other guys in the flight told me was the slowest, most deliberate spin he’d ever seen. The result? A toss of 20.31m to edge ASU’s Jordan Clarke for the win. So even if he is feeling messed up technically, Crouser can still use his immense talent to conjure up a big throw.

Unfortunately, that won’t be enough to beat Zunic. In a world class competition, Stipe has the most world class experience. He finished fourth at the European Outdoor Championships last August, and 6th at this year’s European Indoor Championships one week before defeating Crouser at the NCAA indoor meet.

That experience will get him through what looks to be an epic competition.

Wild Card: Virginia’s Filip Mihaljevic. Like Stipe, he has the eastern European  mojo going.

 

The discus qualification rounds were held during the evening session of the first day of competition (Tuesday, August 12) and the weather was excellent, as was my view of the cage:

Those photographers did not linger very long, and I was able to take some nice vids from my seat, which was in the last row–a testament to the intimate layout at Letzigrund.

Here, by the way, is a link to those vids:

I was especially jacked up about the prospect of seeing two of the all-time greats appearing in this competition, one–Robert Harting–still at his peak, the other–Virgilius Alekna–nearing the end of the road.

I had the pleasure of seeing Alekna compete four times in the old Letzigrund Stadium when he was in his prime. Here is a link to a vid I made of the 2000 competition when he hit 70 meters on four of six throws:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iF_ez98mpC0

And here is a link to an article I wrote about the 2005 Zurich meeting and a rather humorous encounter I had with Alekna the next day:

https://mcthrows.com/?p=96

Suffice it to say, I am a big fan of that man. He always carried himself with great dignity. After those 70-meter throws he might raise an arm to acknowledge the crowd, but at the same time he’d smile sheepishly, seeming almost embarrassed by the attention.

I’ve always wondered if he felt like murdering Robert Fazekas in 2004.  If you recall, Fazekas prevented Alekna from enjoying a well-deserved victory lap celebrating his second Olympic gold. Fazekas defeated Alekna but not the drug testers in Athens, so Alekna received his medal in a delayed ceremony. Fazekas also kept Alekna from collecting a share of that year’s Golden League grand prize money by handing the large Lithuanian his only Golden League loss that season (athletes had to go undefeated to get a piece of the big prize).

But to be honest, it is difficult to imagine Alekna getting really cheesed off about anything. He reminds me of the ancient Roman hero Cincinnatus, who in times of war would set aside his plow, lead the Romans to victory, then quietly return to his fields caring nothing for glory or acclaim.

Harting, on the other hand, is more like Achilles. He carries himself with an undeniable air of superiority. And, like Achilles, he has earned the right to do that by defeating all challengers. In The Iliad, the Trojans are full of piss and vinegar as long as Achilles is away from the battlefield. But the minute he shows up looking to avenge the death of his friend Patroclus, they know it is all over for them.

So it is with the world’s best discus throwers. When I ran into Piotr Malachowski, the Polish record holder and this season’s world leader with a throw of 69.28m, in New York last June the first thing I said to him was “It is great to meet you. You are a fantastic thrower!”

His reply?

“Yes, but Harting always beats me.”

What makes Harting an interesting character, though, is that in conversation he is very self-deprecating. I ran into him in that same hotel lobby in New York where I had spoken to Malachowski, and he was extremely gracious. He had just arrived from the airport after a trans-Atlantic flight but he patiently answered my questions, and then answered some more following his win the next day at the Adidas Grand Prix meeting. Here are links to those two interviews:

Anyway, it turned out to be an interesting juxtaposition watching these two great champions, both competing in flight one of the prelims in Zurich. Alekna looked as smooth as he ever did, but simply could not generate the power necessary to reach the 64-meter automatic qualifier mark. The best he could muster was a first-round 59.35m.

Harting, flush with power, qualified easily by hitting 67.01m on his first attempt.

Gerd Kanter also looked sharp in the prelims, throwing 65.79m to go one-and-done.

Malachowski ended up taking all three of his attempts, ultimately reaching 64.98m.

I left the stadium that night thinking that we might see a pretty good battle between those three in the next day’s final.

As mentioned in my last post, I headed over to the Hilton Hotel early the next morning in order to attend a German team press conference. Afterwards, I sat down in the lobby to make some notes and eventually looked up to see a very tall man ambling past the front desk. It was Torsten Schmidt, a 2004 Olympian and, since last November, the coach of Robert Harting.

From what I understand, Germans, unlike Americans, are not comfortable with casual friendliness. My brother-in-law has told me that when a German meets another German he must speak to that person in a formal way until given permission to switch over to a more familiar style of address. In the press conference I had just attended, for example, I noticed that at least one of the German reporters had addressed David Storl as “Herr Storl” even though the reporter was much older than the shot putter.

I was a worried then, that I might cause offense by springing upon the unsuspecting Coach Schmidt and interrupting a heretofore peaceful morning stroll.

But doggonit, a fellow only lives once, and how often do you see the coach of the world’s best discus thrower wandering through a hotel lobby?

So, I pounced.

And it turns out he is a really nice man. I think he spent the first couple of minutes of our conversation wondering who in the hell I was and why in God’s name I was asking him questions, but eventually he understood that I was a fellow discus geek and we had a very nice chat.

He told me that he had retired from competition in 2007, and by 2009 was coaching young throwers at the German training center in Berlin.

I asked him if he felt a lot of pressure going from coaching teenagers to coaching the defending Olympic champion, but he said no because Harting has such a clear idea of what he needs to do to perform well, and that even when his form is a bit off he is strong enough to throw far.

In fact, according to Coach Schmidt, Harting’s entry was flawed on his qualifier, but he was able to muscle it 67 meters.

After a few minutes, I wished Coach Schmidt good luck in that night’s final, and headed off to the stadium to watch the women’s hammer qualifying.

It rained throughout the entire hammer competition, but the sun reappeared as I made my way towards the train station with the idea of heading back to Winterthur to relax for a couple of hours before returning to Letzigrund for the evening session.

On the way, I stopped at a plaza in downtown Zurich stocked full of track-related activities and displays, and dominated by this temporary wooden structure:

The reason that all of the table umbrellas are tied up is that the wind was really whipping, and eventually blew so strong that the start of the evening session was delayed some 90 minutes.

After a nice nap back at my brother-in-law’s apartment, I saw news of the delay on Twitter but wasn’t sure how it would affect the start of the discus final, so I headed over to the Winterthur train station in plenty of time to get back to Letzigrund in case it proceeded on schedule.

And who should I run into on the train platform, but the fine Dutch discus thrower Eric Cadee and his girlfriend Kai Kand, the former heptathlete from Estonia.

I met Eric last June when I retrieved his shoe on Randall’s Island in New York. It was the day before the Diamond League meeting, and I had headed over to Icahn Stadium to see if any of the throwers were practicing. Eric was there with 2012 Olympic silver medalist Ehsan Hadadi, and they wanted to try out the ring but it was entirely filled with water from a morning shower.

I quickly snapped into Coach McQuaid mode, rounded up a broom and some towels, and cleaned up the ring. Eric just wanted to take some easy shoe tosses, and I shagged for him so that he didn’t have to keep walking through the wet grass. He and Ehsan were both very pleasant to talk to, and after they were done practicing I taped a quick interview with each. You can find those interviews here:

Unfortunately, Eric did not throw well in the qualifying in Zurich, so he was on his way to attend the discus final as a spectator.

It was great fun talking to Eric and Kai on the journey to the stadium, and I couldn’t help but fantasize about some day coaching their children. They are smart and friendly and just happen to be world class athletes. Eric and Kai, if you read this just know that the Chicago suburbs have lots of parks and excellent schools.

I mentioned that Malachowski seemed not to be at his best, and Eric said that he (Malachowski) was struggling with his timing and confidence. “I told him, just remember you are the defending European champion. You’ve thrown 71 meters!”

When we arrived at the stadium, the wind was swirling, the temperature was dropping, and the decathlon javelin was just getting underway. This meant that the discus final would not begin for another two hours.

Always one to make the best of a bad situation, I filled the time by eating brats and pretending to be interested in the decathlon.

Finally, the javelin sector lines were removed, the discus sector lines were set out, and the finalists were ushered into the stadium.

I had paid 140 francs for a second row seat hoping to be close to the cage for the final, and I was definitely close:

The problem was that Harting’s presence made the discus a marquee event, and in order to give the folks watching at home a great view…

…they totally blocked mine.

See that giant camera pointed at the stands? That was there to film the reaction of the coaches throughout the competition.

It is probably good that they did not point that camera at me, because while I do not speak German, I do know a universal hand signal that would have expressed my feelings precisely.

Ah well, it was still fun to be that close.

Shortly before they opened the ring for warmups, it began to rain.

The Zurich ring has a good reputation. In New York, Harting told me he really likes throwing at Letzigrund, and Sondra Perkovic has said the same thing.

But there was something about the combination of the misting rain and the cool temperature that made the surface almost unmanageable.

Harting actually fell down performing an imitation.

And I don’t care how confident you are, that has got to shake you up a bit.

Throughout the competition, Harting took frequent strolls across the track to check in with Torsten.

Most of the competitors did the same. Here is Martin Wierig conversing with his coach, world record holder Jurgen Schult:

 

Here is Robert Urbanek with his coach:

 

Malachowski had several animated conversations with the Olympic shot champion, Tomasz Majewski.

Malachowski had told me that he and Majewski were best friends, and they acted like it. I do not speak Polish, but based on their gestures and facial expressions it seemed like their interactions went something like this:

“Throw farther, you idiot!”

“I can’t! The ring is a mess!”

“I don’t care! Just find a way!”

That photo above was taken after the competition though, and you can see that Majewski was genuinely pained when his friend was unable to defend his title.

Harting opened with 63.94m, followed by a foul when the discus slipped out of his hand, followed by one of those throws that he always seems to come up with: 66.07m in round three.

He passed in round four, hoping that the rain might let up a bit and let him extend his lead…

…then fouled both of his final attempts. On his sixth throw, his right foot landed on the rubberized surface surrounding the ring and I thought he was going to do the splits.

Kanter, who had spent time between throws performing imitations on the track right in front of me…

…finished second with a 64.75m toss, followed by a very happy Robert Urbanik…

…whose second round toss of 63.81m held up for the bronze.

You will notice that Harting is shirtless here, and that he is surrounded by a bunch of photographers.

After his final throw, the whole stadium was ready to see him rip his shirt off–his usual mode of celebration following a big win.

Harting, though, decided to have some fun with those expectations and performed a couple of fake shirt rips…

…before peeling it off and pretending to take a nap on the track.

His was not the only ecstatic celebration of the night, as French decathlete Florian Geffrouais seemed at one point about to jump on me:

 

One last observation regarding the men’s discus. The Germans are huge! Harting is a big man. Wierig is bigger. Fellow finalist Daniel Jasinski is even bigger. And Jasinski’s coach is the biggest dude I’ve ever seen!

Do you see Majewski there talking to Malachowski? The guy in the red jacket next to Tomasz is Jasinski’s coach, and he…is…bigger…than…Majewski! Bet he doesn’t have any trouble getting his athletes to listen to him.

So, a couple of days later, Saturday morning to be exact, I headed back to the Hilton for another German press conference. This one mainly concerned the women’s hammer, which I will post about later, but afterwards I walked out into the lobby and who should meander by but Torsten Schmidt.

The poor guy must have wondered what he had to do to make it through the lobby without some idiot American jumping out from behind a potted plant.

But we had another really nice conversation! He said that prior to the competition the discus throwers had been told three times in the holding area that they would be taken to the ring in “10 minutes.”  Somehow, ten minutes stretched into an hour and then nearly two hours before they were actually brought out for warmups.

Then, as mentioned above, it was very difficult to find comfort with the throwing surface.

Most of the throwers also quickly gave up trying to perform imitations between attempts due to the slickness of the rubberized surface around the cage. That is why Kanter came over to the track to work on his steps, apparently finding a dry patch just in front of the stands.

It all added up to a potential disaster for  Harting,the prohibitive favorite, and for Torsten who must have felt the weight of expectations as well.

One thing that I was struck by throughout my week in Zurich was how much it meant for these athletes to medal at this meet. Obviously, the Olympics and World Championships are a bigger deal, but based on the reactions of the winners and losers, I’d say not by much.

I got the sense, especially from the Germans, that they felt great pride in representing their country. Each time I passed through the Hilton lobby, I noticed several German athletes watching the live feed from the stadium and cheering loudly when their compatriots performed well.

So it could not have been easy for Torsten to have watched Harting bite the dust during an imitation and then struggle mightily to find a semblance of rhythm.

“So,” I finally asked, “what did you say to help get him through it?”

“We decided that he needed to keep more bend in his knees so he could keep his balance. Fortunately, that was enough.”

Just then, Harting showed up. He looked at Torsten and then at me and then his eyes widened and he exclaimed, “You again!”

I held out my hand.

“Hello, Robert. Dan McQuaid. Congratulations on your victory!”

As we shook, he looked again at Torsten and said, “This guy is always hanging around asking questions!”

“Yes,” I replied. “Your coach is telling me all of your secrets.”

“Secrets?” he shot back. “There is no such thing as secrets!”

“Secrets,” he continued, tapping a long finger against his temple, “are only doubts!”

And with that he turned and strode confidently away looking fit and ready to storm the walls of Troy.

 

 

In ancient Greece, Olympic champions were feted with banquets and parades, immortalized in bronze and marble.

In modern New York, they are largely ignored aside from the occasional bystander who asks, “Do you play basketball?”

Such is the fate of Valerie Adams, two-time Olympic shot put champion, arguably the greatest putter in history but perhaps born 2,500 years too late.

Val came into the Adidas Grand Prix meet in New York City last weekend looking for her 50th consecutive win. Hoping to derail the Adams Express was a field that featured Michelle Carter (who broke the American record last year with toss of 20.24m) and Yevgeniya Kolodko (the London silver medalist and owner of a 20.48m PB).

I was  stoked to get a look at Kolodko and her excellent glide technique, and though I was rooting for Val to get number 50, I hoped that Carter and Kolodko would push her to extend her season best of 20.46m.

Alas, t’was not to be. In spite of perfect weather that had helped produce meet records in each of the two previous throwing events–Robert Harting’s 68.24m in the discus and Linda Stahl’s 67.32m in the javelin–and a raucous crowd that cheered Bohdan Bondarenko  and Mutaz Essa Barshim through the greatest high jump dual in history, none of the women putters could get it going.

Carter opened with a respectable 19.51m, but that turned out to be her only throw over 19.00m. Kolodko had nothing. I could tell she was in trouble during warmups when she took about a million throws, none of which looked sharp, and she fared even worse during the competition with a 17.25m sandwiched by two fouls. I have to think she was injured, but I didn’t get a chance to ask her as she packed up and left while the top six took their final three throws.

Meanwhile, the Carter/Adams dual played out as more weird than dramatic.  Val’s best in the first three rounds was 19.31m, but with the champ on the ropes and vulnerable to an upset, Carter  followed her 19.51m with an uninspired-looking 18.57m and 18.39m.

It must have been a strange feeling for Val not to be the final thrower after the re-ordering, and she quickly set things right with a 19.52m to take the lead. But even after extending that lead with a fifth-round 19.68m, you could tell she was not herself. After each attempt, she looked for advice from a gentleman watching from across the track. Val is coached by two very large Swiss fellows–Werner Gunthor and Jean-Piere Egger–and this man was neither Swiss nor large, so I’m not sure who he was but the advice he shouted to her (“Put your whole body behind it! Get it going on this one!”) was heartfelt and kind of sweet. The sort of advice one might expect to hear shouted by a parent at a middle-school track meet.

After the competition, I had a nice chat with Val that you can view here:

As always, she was humble and upbeat, and afterwards she strode off looking like a champion prize-fighter from back in the day, a bit weary but ready to move on to the next town and flatten the next challenger.

Forgive me for one minute, but I feel the need to switch to Negative Nancy mode.  As I was writing this article and reflecting back on what, by any measurement (5 meet records, 5 world-leading performances) was a fantastic track meet I realized that there was one aspect of it that bothered me.

On this sun-kissed day at Icahn Stadium, the shot put ran concurrently with (and right next to) that magnificent high jump competition.  As the bar was raised closer and closer to a world-record height, the attention of the crowd became completely focused on that event. By the time Bondarenko and Barshim started taking attempts at 2.46m (the world record is 2.45) I’m pretty sure that myself, my friend Peter, and the guy shouting encouragement to Val were the only people in the stadium paying attention to the shot put.

But that’s as it should be. Witnessing a world record is a big, honking deal.

What bothers me is that Valerie Adams, arguably the best ever at her event, will never be involved in a competition like that. The world record in the women’s shot (Natalia Lisovskaya, 22.63m, set in 1987)is so far out there (Val’s PB is 21.24m) and so obviously the result of PEDs that nobody in this age of random drug testing is ever going to beat it.

And that sucks, for Val because it unfairly diminishes her accomplishments, and for shot put fans because it deprives us of the chance to experience a moment in the shot equal to the moment when Bondarenko or Barshim began their approach to the bar and an entire stadium held its collective breath.

Okay. Just had to get that off my chest.

After the meet, my very patient wife, my friend Peter, and I had a fantastic dinner at an Italian place in midtown and then stopped by the athletes’ hotel to have a drink in the lounge overlooking the lobby.  Several beers later, we spotted Val and a couple of friends just back from dinner themselves. I grabbed Peter and dragged him down to meet her, my wife trailing us with her cellphone at the ready.  I’m not sure exactly what we said to her, nor can I guarantee that anything we said made much sense, but she listened to us patiently and agreed to pose for a picture.

That’s no basketball player, folks. That’s the best shot putter ever.