Rowing and Track Athletics (extract)

The Weights and Weight- Throwers 38 s thrower seated at his desk, with a drop-light shin– ing on his tanned face and his audible checked waistcoat, and with a pencil gripped in his huge fist, placidly writing about some meet of yesterday or forecasts for to-morrow. The fifty-six-pound weight, with which Mitchell performed more brilliantly though no more con– sistently than with the hammer, is obviously not to be toyed with by any but the most powerful men. The throwing of this formidable missile is not included at all in the list of college events, but it is one of the events contested at the national amateur and the national all-round championships. The weight is shaped like the shot, but is thrown with a shorter ~and ring-shaped swivel handle. The theory of hurling it is the same as that used in hammer-throwing, except that the pon– derousness of the missile requires an accentua– tion of the motions used in throwing the lighter ball. The pull exerted by the fifty-six-pound weight as it swings over the head is very great, and it takes unusually strong legs and the mo t skilful adaptation of the principles of hammer– throwing even to maintain one's balance, not to speak of throwing the weight with any effect. Throwing the fifty-six-pound ball with more than a single turn is rarely attempted, for the simple reason that none but extraordinarily powerful men have the neces ary strength. The record for 2C