Dalian update: University Games: Shot put

This morning the University Games were officially opened under a blue sky and at 13.30 I had my shot put competition, the first of two events I am selected for by my International Department. The javelin throw is scheduled for tomorrow. There were 18 participants in total for the shot put, belonging to various departments of the University of Technology. For our team I was there together with a strongly-built Belarussian.

The entire event is an enormous organisation here, and it is really done well! With flags, music, parades, free water for all competitors and so on. No nonsense neither. Everybody got a number to attach on his shirt - front and back - and was to present himself officially to register at the time the event started. We even had to throw with the olympic weight of 7,2 kg, which was a first indication to me that there were bound to be some well-trained Chinese shot putters taking part. During my time in athletics as a teenager i never threw with more than 5kg - the weight we also used last week during the departmental trials. Anyway, I was the third participant to throw and my first attempt gave me the provisional lead with a throw of just over 8 metres. But damn, 7,2 kg is heavy! The Belarussian guy threw further than me, and then a whole string of Chinese competitors were throwing close to the 9 metre mark. No, I was not going to feature in this one. Eventually, I managed 9th place out of 18 with a best throw - my third - of 8m20. The Belarussian was 6th with 9m25. The winner was a properly trained "professional", built like a traditional shot putter and demonstrating great technique. He toyed with us, really. His best was 13m87, in fact that was a new University record by a few centimetres so the guy was delighted. Nobody else threw beyond 10 metres with second place measured at 9m88.

It was fun to do this again after nearly two decades. But something must have changed in me: if at the age of 13 I could throw nearly 13 metres with a 4kg shot, and today 'merely' 8m20 with 7,2kg ... Interesting. Let's see what the javelin brings tomorrow!