Athletics for Women: Discus Throw
Mechanism:
The participants throw a metal disc, weighing one-kilogram & eighteen-centimetre in diameter (for women), as far as possible while remaining inside a 1.25m radius circle.
A throw is only counted, if the discus lands inside a marked sector and the participant does not leave the circle before it has landed, and then only from the rear half of the circle.
The participant typically takes 1-and-a-1/2 spins before releasing the discus. The participant will commonly throw 4 or 6/competition. If there is a tie between athletes, the winner will be the athlete with the next-best score.
The Past:
The event was included in the Ancient Olympics of 708BC. The eternal image of the Greek discus thrower comes from the iconic fifth century BC statue by the great sculptor Myron.
Women's version of the event began in the beginning of the twentieth century. Following competition at national and regional levels it was added to the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam.
Gold Standard:
Ellina, Belarus' '01 world champion is the oldest world champion, and medallist, in any event after winning her title at the age of forty-years and two-sixty-eight-days. She became the oldest competitor ever at the World Championships when she appeared at the '09 World Championships in Berlin at nearly forty-nine years of age.
Icons:
Franka Dietzsch
The German discus thrower competed at ten World Championships starting from '91 and ending in '09 and won on three occasions, in '99, '05 and '07 (which she won at the age of 39). She also won the '98 European title and since her retirement at the end of the '09 season she has become a coach and mentor to Germany's new generation of discus throwers. Her personal best throw is 69.51m, achieved in May '99 in Wiesbaden.
We compare the odds at all events at European Athletics Championships 2024.