on left-handed discus throwing [split]

[NormZylstra]

... in this case hurricane is spelled "C-h-u-l-a V-i-s-t-a"; no credence should be placed on marks from there as representative of what will happen in a closed stadium.

"no credence " seems to be an over-strong statement.... although I am a bit vague and no body seems able to quantify the effect.

I'm guessing you've never watched world-class discus throwers close up throwing on open fields with big quartering winds.

2005 NCAA D3 Championships, men's discus (not the most skilled at flying the discus). The top-12 throwers PB with two over the meet record... throwing into a thunderstorm coming over the Iowa cornfields. Usually matching what you threw to get in the meet places you in the top-8 at a championship meet.
Wind can add meters to a throw... esp when you're used to releasing with the outer rim of the discus down (scooping), knowing it'll roll over (to the left) as the rotation slows... try that in a stadium and you're rolling your discus on it's edge.

[Marlow]

Re: US World Champs Team Announced

There must be times when the wind is strong from exactly the wrong direction, so the left-handed guy wins easily!!

[gh]

Re: US World Champs Team Announced

There must be times when the wind is strong from exactly the wrong direction, so the left-handed guy wins easily!!

Almost never because there are so few lefthanded throwers (at least once you get to the elite level). Remember, it was this problem that converted Lance Deal into a hammer thrower.

I could be wrong, but I think on most (major) tracks the discus is thrown from a circle at the finishline end of the track, nearer the backstretch. And with most tracks set up so that the prevailing wind will be a tailwind on the homestretch, that means the discus is going into the wind, and with a right quarter.

The selection against lefthanders becomes Darwinian as a result.

[Pego]

Re: US World Champs Team Announced

The selection against lefthanders becomes Darwinian as a result.

Now that you mentioned it, I really cannot even think of a lefthander DT. There must have been some, but I cannot think of any.

[guru]

Re: US World Champs Team Announced

Better yet, how about the Two Handed Discus Throw - a former Olympic event!

[gh]

Re: US World Champs Team Announced

The selection against lefthanders becomes Darwinian as a result.

Now that you mentioned it, I really cannot even think of a lefthander DT. There must have been some, but I cannot think of any.

I think the U.S. recordholder is Jim Reardon. And (digging deep into fuzzy recesses) for years I think the WR holder was... aiyeee..... Austrian guy who ended up living in Michigan for many years. Help me here folks!... wait... Ernst Soudek?

[highjumpfan]

Re: US World Champs Team Announced

I believe also their was a thrower from Paraguay Ramon Jiminez something. Threw in the 90's was very good.

[Pego]

Re: US World Champs Team Announced

Ernst Soudek

I looked up Soudek. His PR is 51.78 - just about 170'. Even for his time, it was nothing to write home about. He was my generation, yet I don't believe I ever heard of him at that time, being next door neighbors. For comparison, in the fifties, Slovak record-holder Kormúth was throwing over 53 m.

[gh]

Re: US World Champs Team Announced

Bowling Green, Ohio, in '72: Soudek 62.50 (205-1).

[dj]

Re: on left-handed discus throwing [split]

Jamican prep Traves Smikle is a lefty. This year he threw 69.55 (228-2) with the high school discus, 66.88 (219-5) with the junior discus, 59.83 (196-3) with the senior discus.

[Marlow]

Re: on left-handed discus throwing [split]

Jamican prep Traves Smikle is a lefty. This year he threw 69.55 (228-2) with the high school discus, 66.88 (219-5) with the junior discus, 59.83 (196-3) with the senior discus.

If he pans out on the Sr. level, mark this down, he will win an important meet somewhere because the wind is right (left) only for him!!

[gh]

Re: on left-handed discus throwing [split]

unlikely, simply because it's "impossible" to have aiding winds of either kind in an enclosed stadium, where all "important" meets are held.

But he may well be able to win one simply on his talent alone in such conditions, where nobody is particularly advantaged.

[Marlow]

Re: on left-handed discus throwing [split]

unlikely, simply because it's "impossible" to have aiding winds of either kind in an enclosed stadium, where all "important" meets are held.

I've often heard that, but it doesn't seem to keep us from seeing pennants whipping around on the infield, and the 'wind aloft' is always more. We often see stadium-top flags straight out.

[gh]

Re: on left-handed discus throwing [split]

even a legal 1mps wind will make a plastic pennant "whip"; I assure you it takes a tad more than that to have any effect on a 2-kilo discus.

And what happens on a stadium top (from which I've announced in multiple venues) in no way is representative of what's happening at field level.

[Marlow]

Re: on left-handed discus throwing [split]

And what happens on a stadium top (from which I've announced in multiple venues) in no way is representative of what's happening at field level.

But the disc in flight isn't at field-level. It's up there in the 'free-air'.