the.com/shotput
throwing a cannonball with one hand and calling it a sport.
means A track-and-field event in which an athlete hurls a heavy metal ball as far as possible by pushing it from the shoulder with one hand.
from A plain compound of "shot" and "put." The "shot" is the old sense of a projectile — the same word once used for the iron balls fired from cannons and muskets, going back to Old English "sceot," tied to shooting and throwing. "Put" here carries its older Scots and northern English meaning of "to push or thrust," not merely to place — which is why athletes are said to "put" the shot rather than throw it. The sport itself grew out of soldiers and Highlanders flinging cannonballs and heavy stones, so the cannonball jab in the essence isn't far from the literal history.
- shot weight
- men heave a 16-pound iron ball
- ancient roots
- Scottish clansmen tossed boulders for bragging rights
- world record
- over 23 meters, longer than a school bus
- the rule
- push from the neck, never throw it
- tiny circle
- all power launched from a 7-foot ring
ryan crouser — american shot putter, olympic gold 2016 & 2020, world record 23.56m in 2021
natalya lisenko — russian shot putter, olympic gold 2012, world record 22.41m in 2014
tom aspinall — british shot putter, olympic gold 1988, competed at seoul olympics