In previous post of mine I wrote about two greek throwing events. Both of them had figured in the Olympics. The first, stone throw, is not an exclusively greek discipline since it is also part of the Highland Games, although the rules and as a consequence the throwing style are quite different. The other one, greek-style discus throw is, as I argued, a rather artificial discipline, now defunct, which was introduced in the first Olympics because nobody knew how to throw the discus. There were a few points that had left me unhappy in those posts. For instance, I was unable to find a decent photo of a throwing stone. Fortunately, since the publication of those articles I had managed to make some progress and I decided to write this follow-up post.
Let us start with the stone throw. Thanks to my friend K. Tsagkarakis I met D. Mpontikoulis who has created singlehandedly a museum of athletics. I had the chance to meet M. Mpontikoulis who gave me an interview for the blog and a guided visit of his museum. (A post on this is under preparation and will appear in a not too distant future). Among the many exhibits of his museum there were several stones, and I could, at long last, present a decent photo of the implement.
The three stones in the photo correspond to the senior, junior and youth implements. The heavier one has a weight of 6.4 kg (I explain the origin of this choice in my post on stone-throw). The lighter ones have a weight of roughly 4 kg and 2.5 kg. (Had a women's implement existed it should have had a weight in the range of 3-3.5 kg, but the discipline disappeared while women's athletics were just picking up). In fact there is a whole treasure trove of stones in the museum.
According to M. Mpontikoulis they are the stones that were cut for the 1906 Olympics. Most probably a large quantity was ordered and a few were selected and re-worked so as to bring down their weight to the exact regulatory one. As I explained in my post on stone throw, the discipline has made a single appearance in the olympic program, in the 1906 intercalated Olympics. It has survived in the greek championships till 1955. However a close look at the results shows that the discipline was losing steam for decades. The typical post WWII greek champion obtained his title with a performance of around 18 m. One has to go back to pre-war results in order to find 19 m performances with a peak at 20.25 m in 1925. And what is even more astonishing is that the best performance is the one of N. Georgantas (the olympic champion of 1906) who threw 20.45 in 1908. Given the evolution, it is clear that in 1955 the stone throw was ready for retirement.
This is also true for greek-style discus throw. The discipline figured in the greek championships program till 1957 with the last champion winning with a throw of less than 30 m. However 20 years before that, N. Syllas threw a whopping 42.98 m which was heralded by the newspapers of the time as a new world record. (It was certainly the best performance ever registered, but one must keep in mind that in the 30s nobody outside Greece was throwing in this style).
One mysterious occurrence is the existence in the results of the greek athletics' championships of a greek-style javelin throw. Javelin throw made its appearance in the olympic program in 1906. On the occasion of the 1908 Olympics two distinct events were staged: "free style" and "held in the middle". In the former the manner of holding the javelin was left to the absolute discretion of each competitor. In the latter the javelin had to be held by the grip, and no other method of holding was admissible. The free-style event did not survive, most probably because most competitors did hold the javelin by the middle and, in any case, the results of the two events were quite similar. I do not think that the greek-style is a variant of the free style. For a few years after 1908 the program of the greek championships comprised the events of ακοντισμός javelin throw and ελληνικός ακοντισμός greek-style javelin throw. In a compilation of results of junior competitions of 1912 one finds references to free-style javelin throw and to greek-style javelin throw. In the greek 1919 championships there were two events in the program: "free-style javelin throw" (ελεύθερος ακοντισμός) and "javelin throw" (ακοντισμός). (One can safely surmise that the latter is the "held in the middle" style). In the 1924 program there figured just one event: ελληνικός ακοντισμός i.e. greek javelin throw. Moreover, the book of T. Sakellariou on throw training, published in 1930, is referring to javelin throw as greek javelin throw and then goes on to describe the discipline as we know it today. Finally, the javelin history page refers to Lemming as having won, in the 1908 Olympics, first official title in the "greekstyle" or "orthodox" javelin event. (As a matter of fact he won also the free-style one).
For me, all this is an indication that the greek-style moniker is a reference to the greek heritage of the event and not a technical specification. Greek-style javelin throw is just javelin throw.
Having solved this paradox I cannot resist the temptation to mention that a really free-style javelin throw did briefly exist, with spectacular results. It's the spanish, rotational style, invented by F. Erauskin, a style which revolutionised the discipline in 1956 and which was immediately banned by the IAAF purists. You can find the details in my article on the "javelin controversy".
Let us start with the stone throw. Thanks to my friend K. Tsagkarakis I met D. Mpontikoulis who has created singlehandedly a museum of athletics. I had the chance to meet M. Mpontikoulis who gave me an interview for the blog and a guided visit of his museum. (A post on this is under preparation and will appear in a not too distant future). Among the many exhibits of his museum there were several stones, and I could, at long last, present a decent photo of the implement.
The three stones in the photo correspond to the senior, junior and youth implements. The heavier one has a weight of 6.4 kg (I explain the origin of this choice in my post on stone-throw). The lighter ones have a weight of roughly 4 kg and 2.5 kg. (Had a women's implement existed it should have had a weight in the range of 3-3.5 kg, but the discipline disappeared while women's athletics were just picking up). In fact there is a whole treasure trove of stones in the museum.
According to M. Mpontikoulis they are the stones that were cut for the 1906 Olympics. Most probably a large quantity was ordered and a few were selected and re-worked so as to bring down their weight to the exact regulatory one. As I explained in my post on stone throw, the discipline has made a single appearance in the olympic program, in the 1906 intercalated Olympics. It has survived in the greek championships till 1955. However a close look at the results shows that the discipline was losing steam for decades. The typical post WWII greek champion obtained his title with a performance of around 18 m. One has to go back to pre-war results in order to find 19 m performances with a peak at 20.25 m in 1925. And what is even more astonishing is that the best performance is the one of N. Georgantas (the olympic champion of 1906) who threw 20.45 in 1908. Given the evolution, it is clear that in 1955 the stone throw was ready for retirement.
One mysterious occurrence is the existence in the results of the greek athletics' championships of a greek-style javelin throw. Javelin throw made its appearance in the olympic program in 1906. On the occasion of the 1908 Olympics two distinct events were staged: "free style" and "held in the middle". In the former the manner of holding the javelin was left to the absolute discretion of each competitor. In the latter the javelin had to be held by the grip, and no other method of holding was admissible. The free-style event did not survive, most probably because most competitors did hold the javelin by the middle and, in any case, the results of the two events were quite similar. I do not think that the greek-style is a variant of the free style. For a few years after 1908 the program of the greek championships comprised the events of ακοντισμός javelin throw and ελληνικός ακοντισμός greek-style javelin throw. In a compilation of results of junior competitions of 1912 one finds references to free-style javelin throw and to greek-style javelin throw. In the greek 1919 championships there were two events in the program: "free-style javelin throw" (ελεύθερος ακοντισμός) and "javelin throw" (ακοντισμός). (One can safely surmise that the latter is the "held in the middle" style). In the 1924 program there figured just one event: ελληνικός ακοντισμός i.e. greek javelin throw. Moreover, the book of T. Sakellariou on throw training, published in 1930, is referring to javelin throw as greek javelin throw and then goes on to describe the discipline as we know it today. Finally, the javelin history page refers to Lemming as having won, in the 1908 Olympics, first official title in the "greekstyle" or "orthodox" javelin event. (As a matter of fact he won also the free-style one).
For me, all this is an indication that the greek-style moniker is a reference to the greek heritage of the event and not a technical specification. Greek-style javelin throw is just javelin throw.
Having solved this paradox I cannot resist the temptation to mention that a really free-style javelin throw did briefly exist, with spectacular results. It's the spanish, rotational style, invented by F. Erauskin, a style which revolutionised the discipline in 1956 and which was immediately banned by the IAAF purists. You can find the details in my article on the "javelin controversy".
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