This 12 months is without doubt one of the most enjoyable years thus far for one cause and one cause solely, writes Zara Obamakinwa, it’s Olympic 12 months
Because the 2024 season begins to warmth up, Neuff Athletic ambassador and discus athlete Zara Obamakinwa (UK U23 No.1) sheds some mild on some of the thrilling occasions of the Olympics – the discus.
Origins of discus throwing
If we have a look again into the traditional information of the occasion, it may be known as an Olympic Video games occasion for a cause. The discus is without doubt one of the unique 5 occasions contested within the historic video games, the place the pentathlon signified the proper athlete. Consider the long-lasting historic Greek statue of the discus thrower, which has captured individuals’s curiosity for hundreds of years.
Athletes competing within the pentathlon would throw a bronze discus weighing 9lb (4kg) so far as they might and the perfect out of 5 throws can be recorded, very similar to the fashionable model of the occasion. Typically fantastically engraved, early discus have been discovered weighing wherever from 1.3kg to six.6kg, fabricated from stone, bronze, iron or wooden.
The traditional Olympics have been banned round 1600 years in the past as a part of an effort to suppress paganism and non-Christian occasions. Nonetheless, the traditional Grecian sculpture remained massively well-liked, with many copies being made and ultimately getting rediscovered by archaeologists within the 1700s. It was certainly one of these statues that impressed a German instructor, Christian Georg Kohlrausch, to run experiments along with his college students to recreate the traditional sport within the 1870s.
This finally led to discus throw being reintroduced within the first trendy version of the Olympics in 1896. Curiously, the planning assembly had been in Paris in June 1894, precisely 130 years earlier than this 12 months’s upcoming Olympics.
It didn’t take lengthy for higher throwing strategies to be developed, and the primary athlete to make use of the now-popular strategy of a full physique rotation was the Czech born Frantisek Janda-Suk, which earned him a silver medal within the 1900 version.
Will a British discus thrower win this 12 months?
Naturally, many Brits are hoping for an athlete from the UK to make the Parisian podium.
British pursuits on this 12 months’s Olympic Video games have now confirmed to be driving on two athletes: Nick Percy and Lawrence Okoye.
Percy has already thrown the Olympic A normal out in Ramona, Oklahoma in April and up to date performances are additionally displaying excellent kind. Okoye has achieved the Olympic B normal and is at present ranked twenty third within the Highway to Paris ‘24, a qualifying place.
Nick Percy (Mark Shearman)
Who will win the Olympic discus in 2024?
Okoye holds the British file with 68.24m however Percy went No.2 on the UK all-time rankings earlier this summer time with 67.73m in Ramona.
Now, let’s transfer onto the remainder of the world.
In terms of this 12 months’s discus competitors, it’s arguably some of the unpredictable and aggressive ones but.
Within the girls’s occasion, there are a number of opponents who’re in for an opportunity on the gold.
The reigning Olympic champion Valarie Allman will likely be seeking to defend her title after claiming gold on the Tokyo Video games.
Allman has been so constant this 12 months, having thrown nothing under 67m. After lately being confirmed for the US workforce, it’s secure to say that Allman’s phenomenal capabilities within the sport may nicely be the nation’s greatest likelihood of claiming victory for the second consecutive 12 months in a row.
Feng Bin (Getty)
Bin Feng, one other world champion and Olympic finalist can also be trying robust this season and Marrike Steinacker has added one other 3m to her PB this 12 months to throw over 67m. Sandra Elkasević (née Perković), one other veteran of the occasion who will likely be competing for Croatia, can’t be dominated out both.
Within the males’s discus, now we have some actual massive hitters all battling for the Olympic crown.
- Mykolas Alekna may very well be the out-and-out favorite at simply 21 years outdated. A part of a throwing household dynasty that rivals among the biggest sporting households, with world record-holders, European champions and numerous world medals.
- Kristjan Čeh, world champion and newly topped European champion who has simply overwhelmed Alekna for the title.
- Matthew Denny, the Commonwealth champion and fourth place finisher within the Budapest World championships is trying in wonderful kind
- Daniel Ståhl, the reigning Olympic champion and two-time world champion. He will likely be again in Paris to defend his Olympic title in opposition to the remainder of the world, which is trying like a tall order as of now as he’s but to interrupt 70m, however his expertise and pedigree within the occasion might hopefully see him by way of.
- Alex Rose, Reggie Jagers III and Lukas Weißhaidinger are additionally value watching as they could simply come out and shock spectators throughout the globe.
Mykolas Alekna (Getty)
Discus is one to look at!
With its historic origins and a future stuffed with surprises, discus throw is an important occasion that continues to form the spine of the fashionable Olympics and lots of different competitions throughout the globe. In a way, it’s no marvel that the game has been round for over 2700 years!
Each males’s and ladies’s discus throwers have launched among the farthest throws in modern-day historical past and the bounds of the occasion are being continuously pushed. With that being stated, the discus is really an occasion you can not afford to overlook!
Assist the Neuff Ambassador workforce
Alongside Zara, many different up-and-coming athletes are at present working with Neuff Athletic to provide the monitor and area group the popularity it deserves, each within the UK and additional afield.
You’ll find out who the opposite ambassadors are by clicking right here.
If you happen to’re additionally seeking to up your throwing recreation with a brand-new discus, Neuff shares a variety of athletics tools that caters to throwers of all ranges. You’ll be able to examine their vary out by clicking right here.
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