Then to Now, A History of the Discus

Then to Now, A History of the Discus

History

The sport of discus throwing dates back to ancient Greece, where the sport was prized for its display of an athlete’s precision and coordination, combined with his physical strength. Discus was one of the earliest games played in the Olympiad, along with other similar sports, such as the javelin. Still a widely practiced competitive sport today, discus throwing hasn’t changed dramatically over the past few thousand years.

The first modern athlete to throw the discus while rotating the whole body was František Janda-Suk from Bohemia (Now called the Czech Republic). He invented this technique when studying the position of the famous statue of Discobolus. After only one year of developing the technique he gained the olympic silver in 1900.

The women's competition was added to the Olympic program in the 1928 games, although they had been competing at some national and regional levels previously.

Culture

The discus throw has been the subject of a number of well-known ancient Greek statues and Roman copies such as the Discobolus and Discophoros. The discus throw also appears repeatedly in ancient Greek mythology, featured as a means of manslaughter in the cases of Hyacinth, Crocus, Phocus, and Acrisius, and as a named event in the funeral games of Patroclus

.Discus throwers have been selected as a main theme in numerous collectors' coins. One of the recent samples is the €10 Greek Discus commemorative coin, minted in 2003 to commemorate the 2004 Summer Olympics. On the coin a modern athlete is seen in the foreground in a half-turned position, while in the background an ancient discus thrower has been captured in a lively bending motion, with the discus high above his head, creating a vivid representation of the sport.

What is was like at the Greek Olympics

It was traditional for a discus thrower at the Olympics to present his discus to sanctuary officials after having it inscribed and dedicated to a god. While in Olympia we held an ancient discus inscribed with the words, "Kleon threw me to win the wreath." The discus of antiquity usually was fashioned from metal, though a discus made of stone was permissible for competition. Each quoit-shaped discus was tapered from the center to the thin edges, which made it easy to grasp. The diskoi, studied in various museums, range in diameter from eight to eleven inches; in weight from five to twelve pounds. Apparently there was no official standard for the size or weight of the discus to be used in competition. Again, as with the halteres for jumping, the size and weight depended on individual preference of the contestant. His discus was made to his specifications, to suit his style and technique for throwing the greatest possible distance. Unlike today's discus competitor who throws from within a circumscribed circle, the contestant in the ancient Olympics stood inside an area called the balbis, marked off by three lines. The thrower could not step over the lines to either side, or across the line in front of him. Within the balbis, or throwing cage, he was permitted freedom; he could stand forward or to the far right or to the far left; but, if he stepped outside any one of the three lines while making his throw, he was immediately disqualified. Statues, vase paintings, and literary descriptions of events create some confusion about the science of throwing the discus. Conflicting written statements and illustrative evidence of differences in techniques make it difficult to arrive at a clear concept of general principles. One certain fact is that the Greek discus thrower warmed up with a swinging of arms similar to the actions of a baseball pitcher. BY JULIETTE AGBORCHI