by Larry Eder
Robert Harting, 2009 WC, he likes to pull his shirt off, photo by PhotoRun.net
Robert Harting is one of my favorite characters in track & field. He has a very cool website. He has a hot girlfriend. Oh, in the discus, he won his Olympic gold medal, continuing a series of victories that started August 10, 2010.
Robert Harting is a perfectionist. I remember speaking to him at FBK Hengelo in May 2011, speaking about his throwing. He was annoyed, even though he had won. ” I am not throwing far enough.” His attention to detail is why he is the best discus thrower in the world.
Robert Harting has won gold medals at the Worlds in Berlin in 2009, Daegu in 2011, and now, the Olympic gold medal in 2012. Congrats to one of my favorite Germans, who has a great sense of humor, and shows, once again, that throwers, along with distance runners, are the fun guys at the party.
Ehsan Hadadi of Iran, one of the best throwers in the world, put pressure on the field from throw one. Ehsan threw 68.18m and took the lead. He followed that up with a 64.09m, 67.28m, 66.98m, a foul, and a final foul. Ehsan took the silver.
Robert Harting opened with 67.79m, then a foul, then 67.27m, 66.45m, then 68.27m, where he took the lead. He finished with 67.08m. Harting handled the pressure and showed why he is the gold medalist.
Gerd Kanter, the defending gold medalist from Beijing is tough. Gerd threw 65.07m, 65.79m, 66.02m, 65.96m, 68.03m, 66.99m. His 68.03 throw was his seasonal best. Gerd is quite the speaker, and the Estonian congratulated Robert Harting and Ehsan Hadadi, and noted how great a group of athletes he competed with. The Estonian is a real Olympian.
Virgilijius Alekna, the old guy of the discus, was in third until the fifth throw, when Gerd Kanter got him. Virgilijius, who is 6-7, threw 67.38m in his first throw.
After the race, Robert Harting hurdled eight of the ten 100 meter hurdles. ” The judges told me no, they provoked me (laughing). I do believe that I gave Sally Pearson some new insights into the hurdles.”
On tearing his shirt, Harting said, ” I like tearing my shirt.”
Enough said.
Men’s Discus: 1. Robert Harting, GER, 68.27m, 2. Ehsan Hadadi, IRI, 68.18m, 3.Gerd Kanter, EST, 68.03m, SB, 4. Virgilijius Alekna, LTU, 67.38m,5.Piotry Malachowski, POL, 67.19m,6.Martin Wierig, GER, 65.85m, 7.Yennifer Frank Casanas, ESP, 65.56m, 8.Vikas Gowda, IND, 64.79m, 9. Benn Harradine, AUS, 62.78m, 10. Erik Cadee,NED, 62.78m, 11.Jorge Y Fernandez, CUB, 62.02m, 12. Lawrence Okaye, GBR, 61.03m, #london2012, #olympics, #discus
