Discus Throw, Men

The discus throw was held on the first day of athletics competition, 6 April 1896. It was the first time the discus was ever contested at a major athletics meeting. There were nine competitors who took three throws from a 2.50 metres square, with the top three receiving an additional two efforts. The Greeks felt that they had an unbeatable thrower in Panagiotis Paraskevopoulos, but he was beaten by Robert Garrett (USA) on Garrett’s fifth, and last, attempt of 29.15 metres. Part of Paraskevopoulos’ problem was that he attempted to strike poses reminiscent of the ancient Greek statues of “diskoboloi.” Paraskevopoulos threw 28.955 metres while Greece’s Sotirios Versis finished third with 28.78 metres.

Garrett was a Princeton student who initially was not going to compete in the discus throw. He had heard of the event from his history professor at Princeton, William Milligan Sloane, the first IOC Member in the United States. Sloane had a discus made for Garrett and it weighed about 10 kilograms. Garrett’s efforts reflected the enormous weight of the implement and which greatly discouraged him. Upon arriving in Athens, he saw that the real discus weighed only two kilograms, so he changed his mind and elected to compete.