The Olympic Event You Must Watch

On Friday, the Track and Field events get underway at the Olympics.   But one local coach says for drama, you need to watch the throwing events - in particular, the shot put.  

Set your recorders now for the mens' shot put on Friday, and the women's on Monday.

Rob Lasorsa, founder and President of the Palm Desert-based National Throws Coaches Association, says that as exciting as the 9-plus seconds of the 100meter sprint is, for speed and drama the event to watch is the shot put. 

“It all comes down to a very short time period.  Each throw take less than a second to execute,” Lasorsa said.  “In the Olympics, you get three throws in the qualifying round to advance to the finals.  So your career, your years of hard work, can be defined in a total of three seconds.” 

Lasorsa has worked with top flight American athletes for years, including time as the National Shot Development Coordinator, overseeing shot put athletes nationwide. 

He believes the Americans have a good chance at winning Gold in the mens event, something that hasn’t been done since Randy Barnes won in Atlanta in 1996. 

“Our team is so competitive,” Lasorsa said. “The U.S. has always been a favorite, but we haven’t had gold since 1996.  All three [of our shot put entries, Reese Hoffa, Ryan Whiting and Christian Cantwell], have won World Championships at various times.” 

Lasorsa also noted that getting high school athletes interested in the throw events is difficult for a couple reasons.  One reason is that most states high school sports governing bodies do not allow the javelin or hammer throw as part of track and field, including California.  Only 3 states have certified the hammer throw as a high school event, 11 allow the javelin. 

The other reason, Lasorsa says, is that kids decide too young to stick to one sport. 

“In Europe, the kids are exposed to so many different sports, they find what they’re good at, but still play others and it helps their overall athletic ability,” he said. “We have a lot of things to think about here.  How many shot putters would come from football?  How many javelin throwers could come out of baseball?”  

“Kids specializing in just one sport not only hurts the other sports, but it hurts their overall athletic skills.”  

Lasorsa says that locally, the high schools have no problem developing athletes in the throwing sports.  

“The valley has done really well in the track and field programs here.  Throws have done really well.  There’s great coaches at every school.” 

And who knows, right now under one of those local coaches could be a shot put athlete that in four or eight years, may see their career defined in a total of three seconds.