In ancient Greece, Olympic champions were feted with banquets and parades, immortalized\u00a0in bronze and marble.<\/p>\n
In modern New York, they are largely ignored aside from the occasional bystander who asks, “Do you play basketball?”<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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).<\/p>\n
I was\u00a0\u00a0stoked 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.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0and Linda Stahl’s 67.32m in the javelin–and a raucous crowd that cheered Bohdan Bondarenko\u00a0\u00a0and Mutaz Essa Barshim through the greatest high jump dual in history, none of the women putters could get it going.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0left while the top six took their final three throws.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Carter\/Adams dual played out as more weird than dramatic.\u00a0 Val’s best in the first three rounds was 19.31m, but with the champ on the ropes and vulnerable to an upset, Carter\u00a0\u00a0followed her 19.51m with an uninspired-looking 18.57m and 18.39m.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0could tell\u00a0she was not herself. After each attempt, she\u00a0looked for advice from a gentleman watching from across the track. Val is coached by two very large\u00a0Swiss\u00a0fellows–Werner Gunthor and Jean-Piere Egger–and this\u00a0man was neither\u00a0Swiss 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.<\/p>\n
After the competition, I had a nice chat with Val that you can view here:<\/p>\n