Discus throw is one of the two throwing events which go back to the ancient Olympics. It was thus natural that at the 1896 revival to include this discipline in the olympic program. But a difficulty arrised immediately: how do you throw the discus? No detailed description of the ancient style existed and the rare vase paintings depicting discus throwers were not of great help. The same was true for Myron's magnificent discovolos statue. Curiously, the only person who had given some real thought to the matter was a german professor of physical education, Ch. G. Kohlrausch. Working with his students he rediscovered the discipline of discus throwing and published his findings in a monograph entitled "Der Diskus".
During the first Olympiad the discus was thrown from a pedestal the style being essentially an improvised one.
R. Garrett was the first gold medalist. He brought the discus to America where soon it became a popular event. It was thrown from a seven-foot circle, no attention to style being granted. The first thrower to introduce the rotating style was the czech athlete F. Janda-Suk: he was silver medalist in the 1900, Paris, Olympics. (Curiously, from what we know today, the spin technique in shot put was also invented by czech athletes, although half a century later).
When the Olympics returned to Athens in 1906, discus throwing had, in the eyes of the purists, evolved beyond recognition. For my compatriots this was unacceptable. J. Sullivan, in his fabulous 1906 Olympic Games report, takes the organisers' side stating that "the authorities in Greece must be given credit for knowing what is discus throwing" (but I beg to differ). Be that as it may, it was decided that at the 1906 two distinct discus events would be staged: a free-style one and and one where the discus was thrown (supposedly) according to the method followed by the ancients.
M. Sheridan, the greatest discus thrower of that period was the undisputable favourite, and he went on to win easily the free style event. Then came throwing the discus in the greek style. In this event the discus is thrown from an inclined pedestal, 80 cm long and 70 cm broad, with a maximum height of 15 cm behind and a minimum height of 5 cm in front, separated in the middle by a 2 cm wide line.
Sullivan describes the greek throwing style as follows.
The thrower places himself on the pedestal with the feet apart, and holding the discus in either hand. He then takes it with both hands slightly stretched, lifting them without letting go the discus, and stretching out the rest of his body in the same way in the same direction. After that he turns the trunk slightly to the right and bends sharply, so as to bring the left hand when free to the right knee, and the right hand still holding the discus, as far back as the build of the shoulder permits. At this moment the right foot should be forward and the legs bent; the right foot rests on the sole, and the left on the toes only. Then by a sharp and simultaneous extension of the whole body, the thrower throws the discus straight in front of him.
Moreover the feet of the athlete are not allowed to move and only the posterior one can rotate while keeping contact with the pedestal.
Once the discus leaves the hand of the thrower he has the right to leave the pedestal, ending his throw with a kind of forward jump. (The front foot must touch the ground first, lest the athlete be disqualified).
Somehow, Sullivan was in favour of a well-regulated greek-style discus throw. A necessary condition for this was that the "greek" rules be well understood. But that was not the situation in Athens in 1906. In Sullivan's own words:
"In this particular event at Athens, however, I doubt if there was a man entered in the competition who knew exactly what he had to do, other than George (sic) Georgantas. The officials knew what the contestants were to do. I think myself that the competition was spoiled by the interference of a lot of officials who knew much less about throwing the discus (Greek style) than the contestants themselves. When the competition commenced the judges were three Greek gentlemen. They knew the rules, knew what was expected, and as a result they were absolutely fair, and when a man threw irregular, his throw was declared a foul. This went all right until the discus throwers from several countries were declared out. Then it was up to the friends of the contestants and they made it appear as though the jurymen and Greek officials were unfair. They were not unfair; very few of the men that competed threw the discus according to the Greek rules, for how could they? They did not understand the rules and never saw the discus thrown that way. After the competition was partly spoiled with objections, the Greek officials made a mistake in being lenient. Martin Sheridan's throw was disallowed, as well as many others. It was particularly noticeable that the representatives of some of the contestants made all kinds of claims, and the result was that the Greek officials felt they would be criticised and called unfair, so they allowed several men to throw in doubtful style ; that is, to my way of thinking. I thought the winner of the discus did not throw according to the Greek style, but the Greek officials, wanting to please everyone and not wanting to appear unfair to anyone, allowed Mr. Jaervinen of Finland to score the victory. It can be truthfully said that if this Finlander's style was Greek style, so was Sheridan's".
Sheridan's efforts, by the way, were hampered by the fact that he was participating concurrently at the standing high-jump (where he obtained the silver medal). But splitting his attention over two events had a result that he just missed out on a medal in the greek-style discus throw. Had Sheridan taken the time to study the rules for a couple of weeks he could probably have distanced both Järvinen and Georgantas.
The greek judges' leniency handed the gold medal to Järvinen. This rather upset Georgantas, who did not think Järvinen's style was legal. After the decision was announced, the Greek walked over to the pedestal and let fly in an unhampered manner, far outdistancing all other throws. That was a rather spoilt-brat behaviour and he certainly merited the rebuke that he received. Things became even more un-sportsman-like when Georgantas refused to shake hands with Järvinen. (That's the story as I know it. However Edgren's cartoon shows Georgantas refusing to shake hands with Sheridan, who won the free-style discus throw. Now why on earth would Georgantas behave like this, given that the victory of Sheridan was a well-deserved and, in fact, an expected one? I have trouble believing this. It must have been Järvinen).
When Sheridan knew that his style was not the right style, he left the field amid the plaudits of thousands. Georgantas should have done the same thing. Sheridan went on to win the 1908 olympic discus throw both in free and greek style. For the latter that was the last time the events was held at the Olympics.
I do not think that anybody remembers that discipline today except some rare greek septuagenarians who happened to hear about that when they were (very) young. I haven't ever attended a competition of greek style discus although I remember well the pedestal in some of the gymnasia I had visited at the time. The old greek athletics rules book (circa 1960) were listing a greek record for this discipline but nothing survived the modernisation of the 60-70s. This article is a stroll down memory lane but, to tell the truth, what did really motivate it was the juicy story of Georgantas sulking after his defeat and the nice cartoon of R. Edgren.
During the first Olympiad the discus was thrown from a pedestal the style being essentially an improvised one.
P. Paraskevopoulos silver-medalist at the 1896 Olympics
R. Garrett was the first gold medalist. He brought the discus to America where soon it became a popular event. It was thrown from a seven-foot circle, no attention to style being granted. The first thrower to introduce the rotating style was the czech athlete F. Janda-Suk: he was silver medalist in the 1900, Paris, Olympics. (Curiously, from what we know today, the spin technique in shot put was also invented by czech athletes, although half a century later).
R. Garrett won the 1896 discus contest
When the Olympics returned to Athens in 1906, discus throwing had, in the eyes of the purists, evolved beyond recognition. For my compatriots this was unacceptable. J. Sullivan, in his fabulous 1906 Olympic Games report, takes the organisers' side stating that "the authorities in Greece must be given credit for knowing what is discus throwing" (but I beg to differ). Be that as it may, it was decided that at the 1906 two distinct discus events would be staged: a free-style one and and one where the discus was thrown (supposedly) according to the method followed by the ancients.
M. Sheridan at the 1908 Olympics
M. Sheridan, the greatest discus thrower of that period was the undisputable favourite, and he went on to win easily the free style event. Then came throwing the discus in the greek style. In this event the discus is thrown from an inclined pedestal, 80 cm long and 70 cm broad, with a maximum height of 15 cm behind and a minimum height of 5 cm in front, separated in the middle by a 2 cm wide line.
Sullivan describes the greek throwing style as follows.
The thrower places himself on the pedestal with the feet apart, and holding the discus in either hand. He then takes it with both hands slightly stretched, lifting them without letting go the discus, and stretching out the rest of his body in the same way in the same direction. After that he turns the trunk slightly to the right and bends sharply, so as to bring the left hand when free to the right knee, and the right hand still holding the discus, as far back as the build of the shoulder permits. At this moment the right foot should be forward and the legs bent; the right foot rests on the sole, and the left on the toes only. Then by a sharp and simultaneous extension of the whole body, the thrower throws the discus straight in front of him.
Moreover the feet of the athlete are not allowed to move and only the posterior one can rotate while keeping contact with the pedestal.
Discus throwing greek-style according to Sullivan
Somehow, Sullivan was in favour of a well-regulated greek-style discus throw. A necessary condition for this was that the "greek" rules be well understood. But that was not the situation in Athens in 1906. In Sullivan's own words:
"In this particular event at Athens, however, I doubt if there was a man entered in the competition who knew exactly what he had to do, other than George (sic) Georgantas. The officials knew what the contestants were to do. I think myself that the competition was spoiled by the interference of a lot of officials who knew much less about throwing the discus (Greek style) than the contestants themselves. When the competition commenced the judges were three Greek gentlemen. They knew the rules, knew what was expected, and as a result they were absolutely fair, and when a man threw irregular, his throw was declared a foul. This went all right until the discus throwers from several countries were declared out. Then it was up to the friends of the contestants and they made it appear as though the jurymen and Greek officials were unfair. They were not unfair; very few of the men that competed threw the discus according to the Greek rules, for how could they? They did not understand the rules and never saw the discus thrown that way. After the competition was partly spoiled with objections, the Greek officials made a mistake in being lenient. Martin Sheridan's throw was disallowed, as well as many others. It was particularly noticeable that the representatives of some of the contestants made all kinds of claims, and the result was that the Greek officials felt they would be criticised and called unfair, so they allowed several men to throw in doubtful style ; that is, to my way of thinking. I thought the winner of the discus did not throw according to the Greek style, but the Greek officials, wanting to please everyone and not wanting to appear unfair to anyone, allowed Mr. Jaervinen of Finland to score the victory. It can be truthfully said that if this Finlander's style was Greek style, so was Sheridan's".
N. Gerogantas throwing in the 1906 OLympics
The greek judges' leniency handed the gold medal to Järvinen. This rather upset Georgantas, who did not think Järvinen's style was legal. After the decision was announced, the Greek walked over to the pedestal and let fly in an unhampered manner, far outdistancing all other throws. That was a rather spoilt-brat behaviour and he certainly merited the rebuke that he received. Things became even more un-sportsman-like when Georgantas refused to shake hands with Järvinen. (That's the story as I know it. However Edgren's cartoon shows Georgantas refusing to shake hands with Sheridan, who won the free-style discus throw. Now why on earth would Georgantas behave like this, given that the victory of Sheridan was a well-deserved and, in fact, an expected one? I have trouble believing this. It must have been Järvinen).
Georgantas refusing to shake hands
When Sheridan knew that his style was not the right style, he left the field amid the plaudits of thousands. Georgantas should have done the same thing. Sheridan went on to win the 1908 olympic discus throw both in free and greek style. For the latter that was the last time the events was held at the Olympics.
I do not think that anybody remembers that discipline today except some rare greek septuagenarians who happened to hear about that when they were (very) young. I haven't ever attended a competition of greek style discus although I remember well the pedestal in some of the gymnasia I had visited at the time. The old greek athletics rules book (circa 1960) were listing a greek record for this discipline but nothing survived the modernisation of the 60-70s. This article is a stroll down memory lane but, to tell the truth, what did really motivate it was the juicy story of Georgantas sulking after his defeat and the nice cartoon of R. Edgren.
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