Godina Get Screwed?

[gh]

He surely thought so, and while the one angle they showed on the screen wasn't definitive, it clearly didn't show a foul. (i.e., it didn't rule out the possibility, but from the angle given, the call wasn't evident)

A lesser gentleman probably would have turned the judging stand upside down. Tough way for a class act to lose. Nice comethrough by Nelson under tough circumstances.

[dl]

I believe Godina fouled. But even the replay probably didn't have as good of a view as the official who called it without hesitation.

[Guest]

As long as you guys saw the shot, what was the deal with Toth? What was he doing to cause 5 straight fouls? Was he just trying so hard for a huge throw that he just couldn't complete properly?

[gh]

Toth just didn't have it. None of his fouls were particularly long, and all were down the middle puts that were fouls on the board, not sector fouls, which killed him at t he World Indoor.

[gh]

John's staying in same hotel as I am; last night we just traded glum how-are-ya looks. In a day or two I'll ask him for a dispassionate analysis of the situation. Nelson had a similar foul called that equally may not have been. In both cases, heel clearly is over top of the board, but appears as if they pirouette away nicely without actually hitting it.

One should note, though, that if they give Godina that throw (about 20.15), he knocks Nelson out of the final 3 throws, and maybe the U.S. ends up with no medals!

[Guest]

>John's staying in same hotel as I am; last night
>we just traded glum how-are-ya looks. In a day or
>two I'll ask him for a dispassionate analysis of
>the situation. Nelson had a similar foul called
>that equally may not have been. In both cases,
>heel clearly is over top of the board, but
>appears as if they pirouette away nicely without
>actually hitting it.

One should note, though,
>that if they give Godina that throw (about
>20.15), he knocks Nelson out of the final 3
>throws, and maybe the U.S. ends up with no
>medals!


or maybe he would have beat the drug cheat who won coming off a two year ban...heard godina threw 22m in warm-up and he looked pretty good throwing 21.08 in qualifying.

[Guest]

Well, from where I sat ajacent to the put ring, It looked like a foul.

[Guest]

I still haven't seen it.
Was the call at the back of the ring or the front (at the toe-board)? i.e. heel foul or toe foul?

I have ring judged on meets with Godina in it probably 50-60 times over the years, and I have NEVER seen him drag his heel on the back of the ring- and I was watching the heel VERY close (as I always did on all spinners). <I'm now retired from officiating>
In a lot of meets we stationed TWO officials at the ring- one to watch the heel at the back, and one to watch the toe board.
When Godina HAS had fouling problems it has always been at the front of the ring.

By the way, Godina was always a big "warmer-upper"- and more often than not had big warm up throws that he couldn't duplicate in the competition.
His coach, Art Venegas, has sometimes been criticized for letting his athletes warm up TOO much, and not leaving enough in the tank when Round 1 begins. BUT....HE's the renowned throws coach, not me and his athletes have certainly had success...

[Randy Treadway]

By the way, this leads to a related topic. The governing bodies have never been hesitant to go for the latest technology in electronic starting blocks with reaction time measurements, wind gauges, and laser-spotting triangulation measuring devices,...
yet they've never tackled what seems simple- a computer hooked up to mesh material which could sense contact fouls, to be placed in such areas as the toe board, the outside of the ring, and the area in the horizontal jumps now occupied by 'plasticene'.

Touch the mesh and a red light comes on- it's a foul. A computer could even record WHERE on the mesh the contact occured, in case an athlete were to argument that a falling leaf landed on the mesh or something like that.

Does it sound too difficult technically?

Of course then we'd have throwers laying down across the ring refusing to acknowledge an electronic foul, ala Drummond/Christie.

Coaches could also use the mesh as a training aid, turning up the voltage to a level which would get the athlete's attention!!!

One more comment- in all my years of officiating I noticed that elite throwers, when called for a foot foul, did not react the way elite sprinters are prone to react. On rare occasions they'd give a scowling look to the official, but that's about it. Now their coaches and teammates- that's a different story- especially at the collegiate level in a tight scored dual meet. They'd sometimes go nuts.
But the athlete themselves?- naw. They are big and often look mean and tough, but they are almost always a pleasure to officiate.
I'd take them any day over the prima donna sprinters.

[Hunter]

I know godina has battled some injury issues this season. He wore a back brace at US nationals. I wonder if the shot comp (trials and finals) taking place in one day had something to do with his lackluster performance in the finals.

[Guest]

On a side note . . .

CBC's Brian Williams asked Adam Nelson "What do you think about Mikhnevich coming off a suspension and winning"? Nelson thought for a moment and replied "I'm going to say 'no comment' and you can read into that all you want."

Are we allowed to talk about this?

[tafnut]

WE can - there's a thread already.