Ralf Bartels, 2009 Euro Indoor, photo by photoRun.netRalf Bartels of Germany told the press in the mixed zone that he knew he was ready for a throw of 21 plus meters. In his first round, he threw 19.74m, then 20.80m, to take the lead, then, in round 4, he threw 21.16 meters! He fouled in round five and in round six threw 21.09m, but the fourth round gave him the gold!
In second, David Storl of Germany used his third attempt to hit 20.75m for the silver medal. In third, Maksim Sidorov hit 20.55m in his third attempt, and did not improve on that. Nezdad Mulabegovic of Croatia threw 20.45 in round five, for a National record, and Marco Schmidt of Germay gave the Germans three in the top five, with his throw of 20.29m.
At the end of the day, though, it was Ralf Bartels, the grand man of the German shot put, who added another medal to his already glowing medal collection!
Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys. Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."
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by Larry Eder
