Shot Put

‘Elbow up, thumb down, palm out’ is how you put.

• Shot put is an athletic event when you ‘put’ or ‘throw’ a heavy, spherical metal ball.
• Shot put appeared in the Olympic Games for men in 1896, and for women in 1948.
• The first recorded competitions of shot put were in the 1800’s, in Scotland.
• Modern shot probably came about from the competitions that soldiers had in the Middle Ages, involving the throwing of cannon balls.
• The shot (ball) can be made from many materials including  iron, cast iron, solid or stainless steel or brass.

Shot Put
Image courtesy of Sangudo/Flickr

• The shot is thrown with a pushing action, with one hand.
• A shot put athlete stands in a typical 2.1 meter (7 ft) diameter circle and throws the shot as far as they can within the throwing area or sector.
• A shot can range from 1 to 7 kg (2.2 lbs to 16lbs) in weight.
• Shot put records have been set by Randy Barnes, 23.12 meters (75.85 ft), for men and Aratalya Lisovshaya, 22.63 meters (74.25 ft).
• In shot put, any shot that lands outside a sector, the throwing area, equals a foul.

Bibliography:
Shot Put 22 January 2013 , Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shot_put>