This yr is among the most enjoyable years so far for one motive and one motive solely, writes Zara Obamakinwa, it’s Olympic yr
Because the 2024 season begins to warmth up, Neuff Athletic ambassador and discus athlete Zara Obamakinwa (UK U23 No.1) sheds some gentle on one of the crucial 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 motive. The discus is among the unique 5 occasions contested within the historic video games, the place the pentathlon signified the right 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 may and the very best out of 5 throws can be recorded, very similar to the fashionable model of the occasion. Typically superbly 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 standard, 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 in the end 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 yr’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 yr?
Naturally, many Brits are hoping for an athlete from the UK to make the Parisian podium.
British pursuits on this yr’s Olympic Video games have now confirmed to be using on two athletes: Nick Percy and Lawrence Okoye.
Percy has already thrown the Olympic A regular out in Ramona, Oklahoma in April and up to date performances are additionally displaying excellent type. Okoye has achieved the Olympic B commonplace and is presently ranked twenty third within the Street 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 season with 67.73m in Ramona.
Now, let’s transfer onto the remainder of the world.
In terms of this yr’s discus competitors, it’s arguably one of the crucial unpredictable and aggressive ones but.
Within the ladies’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 trying to defend her title after claiming gold on the Tokyo Video games.
Allman has been so constant this yr, having thrown nothing under 67m. After not too long ago being confirmed for the US group, it’s protected to say that Allman’s phenomenal capabilities within the sport might effectively be the nation’s finest likelihood of claiming victory for the second consecutive yr in a row.
Feng Bin (Getty)
Bin Feng, one other world champion and Olympic finalist can be trying robust this season and Marrike Steinacker has added one other 3m to her PB this yr 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 best sporting households, with world record-holders, European champions and varied world medals.
- Kristjan Čeh, world champion and newly topped European champion who has simply crushed Alekna for the title.
- Matthew Denny, the Commonwealth champion and fourth place finisher within the Budapest World championships is trying in fantastic type
- Daniel Ståhl, the reigning Olympic champion and two-time world champion. He will likely be again in Paris to defend his Olympic title towards 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.
- Alex Rose, Reggie Jagers III and Lukas Weißhaidinger are additionally value watching as they might 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 a necessary occasion that continues to form the spine of the fashionable Olympics and plenty 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 girls’s discus throwers have launched among the farthest throws in modern-day historical past and the boundaries of the occasion are being continually pushed. With that being stated, the discus is really an occasion you can not afford to overlook!
Assist the Neuff Ambassador group
Alongside Zara, many different up-and-coming athletes are presently working with Neuff Athletic to offer the observe and discipline neighborhood the popularity it deserves, each within the UK and additional afield.
Yow will discover out who the opposite ambassadors are by clicking right here.
In case you’re additionally trying to up your throwing sport with a brand-new discus, Neuff shares a variety of athletics gear that caters to throwers of all ranges. You’ll be able to verify their vary out by clicking right here.
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