¶2012 OG: mJT–Keshorn Walcott (Trinidad) 277-6 (84.58) NR

[Dutra5]

Don't understand how the rest of the world permits Trinidad to dominate in this event.

[errolM]

Trinidad win the javelin gold.

No matter how often I say that, it still sounds absolutely too far-fetched for words.

Marvellous stuff - delighted for the young man.

T&T's second Olympic gold. Ever. In anything. Move over Hasley

[mcgato]

Anybody have Walcott picked for a medal in any of the contests? Great day for him. Good on T&T.

[j-a-m]

Anybody have Walcott picked for a medal in any of the contests? Great day for him. Good on T&T.

Agreed.

[croflash]

Anybody have Walcott picked for a medal in any of the contests? Great day for him. Good on T&T.

Nobody picked Walcott for any medal at atletiektoto.nl. Not one single person.

[Alan Shank]

Really poor throwing, but not without precedent:

'87 83.54,82.52,82.20 (Zelezny)
'88 84.28,84.12 (Zelezny), 83.26

Still, whoda thunk nobody would throw 85?
Cheers,
Alan Shank

[cladthin]

One of the best stories of these games-possibly the best? Anyone know who the coach is, where he's from? I know T & T has a rich tradition in the javelin but this performance did not just happen.

[Jackaloupe]

OmiGod, Walcott's done it! V. finally got off a good throw, >84 but only good for 4th. Ukraine had one last good shot, but his foot went into the bucket; still ~84. Walcott, who'd been slipping, himself pressing, passed last throw.

New whirled order, eh?

Oops, this Post, typed at the moment of victory, got shunted aside. Sorry,

[Jackaloupe]

Really poor throwing, but not without precedent:

Maybe in absolute terms, but we're still waiting to hear more about the wind. In any case, you could see that few were hitting it low, as needed. Then there's the effect of that stunning opener of Walcott's--which he even managed to improve on w/ his 2nd throw, just enough to stay ahead of the Ukrainian, who came close to hitting a winner on his final throw.

Thorkildsen seemed to float high off the ground on his final effort. As said earlier, all were pressing--fatal in Javelin, if not all Field events.

BTW, After the event V. made a show of uncovering, and displaying his severely wrapped (plant?) ankle. Not just regular tape, but 'medical' elastic wrap.

[croflash]

Really poor throwing, but not without precedent:

Maybe in absolute terms, but we're still waiting to hear more about the wind. In any case, you could see that few were hitting it low, as needed. Then there's the effect of that stunning opener of Walcott's--which he even managed to improve on w/ his 2nd throw, just enough to stay ahead of the Ukrainian.

BTW, After the event V. made a show of uncovering, and displaying his severely wrapped (plant?) ankle. Not just regular tape, but 'medical' elastic wrap.

If 84.58 is considered "stunning", then it simply reiterates the poor overall standard and quality this season. The competition was the crapshoot a lot of people expected well before the qualification took place, but I'm not sure anyone would have guessed the result was going to be this shocking.

[user4]

This is a great great story!.. Keshorn Walcott !

[Randy Treadway]

The Caribbean nations continue to show why the Olympics shouldn't allow charity cases.

I may agree about charity cases, but I don't understand a connection to Caribbean nations.

Actually, I'm all for something that will never happen--- ditch the national affiliations completely, other than for relays. Anybody with the "A" standard gets in, period.

[andyjgt]

TRINIDAD WON OLYMPIC GOLD AT A THROWING EVENT...

How did it happen?!

[andyjgt]

Really poor throwing, but not without precedent:

Maybe in absolute terms, but we're still waiting to hear more about the wind. In any case, you could see that few were hitting it low, as needed. Then there's the effect of that stunning opener of Walcott's--which he even managed to improve on w/ his 2nd throw, just enough to stay ahead of the Ukrainian, who came close to hitting a winner on his final throw.

Thorkildsen seemed to float high off the ground on his final effort. As said earlier, all were pressing--fatal in Javelin, if not all Field events.

BTW, After the event V. made a show of uncovering, and displaying his severely wrapped (plant?) ankle. Not just regular tape, but 'medical' elastic wrap.

At least you know how to spell Ukrainian.

[Marlow]

This is AWESOME!!!

In the NBC interview he said he just wanted to make the finals!

The bad news is that from now on all we're gonna hear on this board is how awesome the T&T Javelinists are compared to the USA! Smack talk on every thread!

[AS]

1952... last Olympics at which a European thrower did NOT win javelin gold!

1972... last Olympics at which European throwers did NOT win all three javelin medals!

[CookyMonzta]

Most shocking Olympic Champion in T&F since?

Paraskevi Patoulidou, when Gail Devers went down in the w100H in Barcelona 1992.

[CookyMonzta]

TRINIDAD WON OLYMPIC GOLD AT A THROWING EVENT...

How did it happen?!

I am not shocked. Laverne Eve from Bahamas was an excellent javelin thrower in her prime, maybe half a level short of the elite, but always good enough to win a big one.

[Per Andersen]

TRINIDAD WON OLYMPIC GOLD AT A THROWING EVENT...

How did it happen?!

I am not shocked. Laverne Eve from Bahamas was an excellent javelin thrower in her prime, maybe half a level short of the elite, but always good enough to win a big one.

I'm not shocked at all. I believe I called it a couple of days ago
Kidding aside. This guy is not bad. but the world's supposed elite was pathetic. Hard to understand.

The only thing I did not mind was Ruuskanen winning bronze. First Olympic medal for Finland? Not sure.

Thorkildsen might be done for the season. He will decide later this week. He's lost now. Something new went wrong in every throw. Last year he could almost stumble his way to a 85m.

Yes, they threw that kind of distances in 1987 and 1988 but that just after the "new" javelin was introduced.

[Jackaloupe]

the world's supposed elite was pathetic. Hard to understand.

Still awaiting information on wind conditions, viz. whether they were varying or constant. As I posted earlier, few seemed to keep it low as called for by the headwind.

Vesely's opening throw, some pathetic 70m or below, looked like a classic case of "blowback", but he may've been testing that tender ankle (revealed after competition ended when he (intentionally?) showed off that ACE bandage.

[lionelp1]

This is AWESOME!!!

In the NBC interview he said he just wanted to make the finals!

The bad news is that from now on all we're gonna hear on this board is how awesome the T&T Javelinists are compared to the USA! Smack talk on every thread!

Rather sneering, but then how many 84 m Javelin throwers have you in your populous country. Well done, 19 y.o. Walcott from little Trinidad, World Junior Champ and OG Gold.

[Marlow]

Rather sneering, but then how many 84 m Javelin throwers have you in your populous country.

Four
91.29 Breaux Greer
89.16 Tom Petranoff
87.12 Tom Pukstys
84.20 Mike Barnett

but I think you misunderstood my joke (sic). It wasn't about the . . . JAVELIN.

[jazzcyclist]

TRINIDAD WON OLYMPIC GOLD AT A THROWING EVENT...

How did it happen?!

A few years ago, Caribbean kids found out that there's more to track and field than sprinting (eg. Kenia Sinclair, Maurice Smith, Donald Thomas, etc.}.

[gm]

One of the best stories of these games-possibly the best? Anyone know who the coach is, where he's from? I know T & T has a rich tradition in the javelin but this performance did not just happen.

His coach is a Cuban gent named Ismael Mastrapa

[gh]

Maybe this slipped under the radar....

none of the three Latvians made the final. This, the country of the great Janis Lusis, voted by the IAAF as the Greatest Javelin Thrower of All Time. (I guess that's GJTOAT ), and a traditional hotbed of javelin throwers.

Finland looks somewhat down too, but at least they'll have a shot in the finals.

When did the IAAF say that? (Indeed, when they ever take a stance of crowning anybody as a GOAT?)

[uakari]

fyi


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/08/sport ... nning.html

[lapsus]

Maybe this slipped under the radar....

none of the three Latvians made the final. This, the country of the great Janis Lusis, voted by the IAAF as the Greatest Javelin Thrower of All Time. (I guess that's GJTOAT ), and a traditional hotbed of javelin throwers.

Finland looks somewhat down too, but at least they'll have a shot in the finals.

When did the IAAF say that? (Indeed, when they ever take a stance of crowning anybody as a GOAT?)

In 1987, according to Wikipedia. Couldn't find a better reference on the Internet, so I don't know if it is true or not.

[uakari]

walcott probably trains in the US?

btw, kenya had a decent m200 sprinter in the 90's, right?

[preston]

walcott probably trains in the US?

btw, kenya had a decent m200 sprinter in the 90's, right?

Trains in the US with a Cuban coach? Not likely. And, with the recent "success" of American Javelin throwers he's better off in Trinidad.

[cladthin]

One of the best stories of these games-possibly the best? Anyone know who the coach is, where he's from? I know T & T has a rich tradition in the javelin but this performance did not just happen.

His coach is a Cuban gent named Ismael Mastrapa

Yep, I just saw this yestereday.

http://www.elitetrack.com/blogs/details/7268/

[uakari]

a cuban coach? that explains it all...

[AS]

Nice to Walcott is up and throwing for 2013. Opened season with 84.39 in Port of Spain over the weekend...

His 2nd best ever comp behind OG...

[shivfan]

“Technically, it wasn’t the best,” Walcott told the Express, afterwards. “The run-up was good, but coming down to the last phases it was off.” He was very satisfied, however, when he realised he had produced the second best throw of his career—84.39 metres. “I didn’t know it went out to that distance. I was a bit surprised because it didn’t look that far. Going out there, first competition for the year, I wasn’t expecting 84. But getting so close to my personal best, for me, signals 2013 is off to a great start.”

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/sports/W ... 26821.html

[AS]

Walcott is set to make his DL debut (indeed, it would appear to be his non-championship, elite-level debut) at Doha, against a pretty hot field:

DE ZORDO Matthias (PR 88.36)
IORDAN Valeriy (83.56)
LEMPESIS Spiridon (83.02)
PITKÄMÄKI Tero (91.53)
RUUSKANEN Antti (87.79)
THORKILDSEN Andreas (91.59)
VASILEVSKIS Vadims (90.73)
VESELÝ Vítězslav (88.34)
ZAYTSEV Ivan (85.03)