On the forbidden cartwheel

I have written, on several occasions, on the "spanish style" for javelin throw. It is in fact a permanent regret of mine that this style was banned and it is not used even for demonstrations. A commenter on my article "The javelin controversy" wrote:

The barra vasca [the throwing style of which led to the spanish one for javelin] was the same for javelin as Fosbury flop was for high jump. The javelin community was appalled: "That's not how you are supposed to throw it!".

With the spinners dominating the shot put, it is now clear that the rotational style is the most efficient one for all throws. So why prohibit it in the case of javelin? But this article is not about javelin. Those who are interested in the latter can read my article on the "javelin puzzle" and track my other articles on the same subject from there.

World Athletics is known for their over-conservative attitude. They only allow something revolutionary (like the fibreglass poles) when they are caught unawares by the evolution of styles or implements and cannot preempt it. 

At the beginning on the 00s, Veronika Watzek, an austrian thrower, invented a new rotational throwing technique, the cartwheel. 

(The thrower in the gif above is not V. Watzek)

Nicky Watzek was more of a discus thrower with a 58+ m personal best (and a 15 m shot put record). Googling for photos of her one finds plenty where she is throwing the discus and in fact the logo of her current enterprise "Athletic Academy" depicts a discus thrower.

It has been impossible to find out whether Watzek's shot put personal best was obtained with the cartwheel style. But I did find an article on a young german thrower who decided to try out the cartwheel style. Certainly his past as a gymnast (which by the way was true also for Nicky Watzek) was helping. Starting with a personal best of 10.98 with the 6 kg shot he had a series of shots culminating to to 13.49 m. Does this suffice in order to conclude that the cartwheel technique presents an advantage over the more conventional ones? Certainly not, but it is a clear indication that exploring different techniques, in particular ones that appear revolutionary, may lead to a progress in performances.

When Watzek introduced the cartwheel the latter obeyed perfectly the rules which stated:

The shot shall be put from the shoulder with one hand only. At the time an athlete takes a stance in the circle to commence a put, the shot shall touch or be in close proximity to the neck or the chin and the hand shall not be dropped below this position during the action of putting. The shot shall not be taken behind the line of the shoulders.

And then the codicil appeared:

Cartwheeling techniques are not permitted.

The official reason: cartwheeling is not safe enough. Of course this is pure hogwash. The real reason is that, were the cartwheel method to be proven more effective, there would have been a monstrous push-back by the existing elite who are throwing in one of the "classical", glide or spin, styles. So WA banned the cartwheel style and that's that.