KANSAS CITY, Mo — Throughout the 2024 Paris Olympics, our KSHB 41 team have put their athletic skills to the test by trying out breakdancing, archery, fencing, and rock climbing.
Now, as the Olympics come to an end, KSHB 41's Caitlin Knute and Cassie Wilson tried out one last sport: the "field" part of track and field.
They got a shot put, discus, and javelin lesson from Mat Maynor, owner of KC Fire Track and Field and the throws coach at Liberty High school.
Before our crew gave throwing sports a shot, we got a little background from Maynor.
"In America, the smallest group of throwers is the hammer. Only a few states in the country throw it in high school; it’s pretty dangerous," Maynor said. "Only, I think, 19 states throw javelin, so that’s a pretty small number too. Shot and discus are thrown in virtually every state and even middle school."
When it comes to shotput and discus, he says those two are a combination of pure power and some speed.
For javelin, Maynor likens it to a very powerful pole vaulter — someone who can run down the runway and stop on a dime, converting that speed into added power behind their throw.
"The pros make it look so easy. The throws are some of the most technical events in track and field," he said. "All the field events, if you think about it, are more technical than running straight. You think it looks super easy, but even the pros only get it right every once in a while. And you just don’t see that unless you watch the full broadcast, where you’re seeing every throw of every athlete. Some of the pros have very ugly throws, and they scratch them intentionally so they don’t get a major mark of something that’s terrible."
As for the weight of the objects these athletes are throwing, in particular the discus and the shotput, they're considerably heavier than most people realize.
"Females throw a four kilo — that’s 8.8 pounds — and they’ll throw that from high school all the way through their professional career," Maynor said, referring to shot put, adding that it's a little lighter for the discus. "They’ll throw 1 kilo, which is 2.2 pounds, discus, all the way through, from high school."
And the weight goes up for the men.
"The guys will throw a 12-pound shot put in high school," Maynor said. "They will then translate to 16 pounds, which is 5.45 kilos in the pros. The discus goes from 1.6 kilos to 2 kilos in the pros. So the discus gets quite a bit bigger, quite a bit heavier in circumference; shot put, same thing. You’re talking about a Texas-sized grapefruit that’s made of solid steel. It’s heavy, really heavy."
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