THE BLUE AND WHITE

On April 14th, Lithuanian discus thrower Mykolas Alekna broke a world record that had stood for almost four decades. He completed this world record throw at the Oklahoma Throws Series World Invitational meet, held in Ramona, Oklahoma. Alekna’s throw of 74.35 metres just barely surpassed the previous world record held by Germany’s Jurgen Schult, who threw 74.08m in 1986.

To understand the significance of this record and what it means for the sport you first need to understand some history. The sport of throwing the discus can be traced all the way back to the original Olympic Games of Ancient Greece, which, as historians estimate, could be as far back as 700 BC. Resurrected from antiquity by a German gymnastics teacher in 1870, it has quickly become one of the most popular events within the Track and Field community and at the current Summer Olympic Games. The event requires the athlete to launch the discus as far as possible using one hand; the discus weighs 2 kg for men (4.4lbs) and 1 kg (2.2lbs) for women. The typical discus is made with wood, fiberglass or carbon fiber and is fitted with a metal rim and a metal core. In order for it to meet competition standards, the rim of the discus must be smooth, with no finger holds or extruding pieces. A discus lined with metal, although harder to throw, creates more rotational momentum, allowing for the disc to travel greater distances. The throw must be completed in a ‘throwing circle’ which is a concrete pad sized at 2.5 m (8 ft. 2 ¼ in.) in diameter. The athlete must start and end their throw in the circle, if any part of their body touches the outside of the circle the throw is faulted and does not count. Additionally, the discus must land within the sector lines drawn on the throwing field, any discus that lands outside of these lines will also be faulted. Almost all elite discus throwers use what is known as a ‘rotational throw’ technique. It was developed by František Janda-Suk who invented it while studying the position of the famous statue of Discobolus. After only one year of developing the technique, he earned a silver medal in the 1900 Olympics. The technique involves the athlete taking a stance facing away from the direction in which they are about to throw. They then spin anticlockwise (for right-handers, which most discus throwers are) one and a half times in order to build momentum and torque before releasing the discus, rolling of their fingers ending with their index. The rules of discus are essentially the same as that of another popular throwing event at the Summer Olympic Games known as shot put, however the circle for discus is larger than that of shot put and there are no form rules or restrictions relating to how the discus must be thrown.

Alekna was able to combine all of the aspects of throwing a discus perfectly in order to break this record, which seemed as though it would stand forever. Even more impressive, in some people’s eyes, is that Alekna surpassed his father who previously held the second farthest discus throw, of 73.88 metres. Alekna is only 22 years old and the sky’s the limit for the young Lithuanian; there is no telling how much he will improve on his already astonishing record.