Very, very sad. But things like that do happen unfortunately. Once I was working a meet once (ex-athletic trainer who traveled with track, among other sports) and during the hammer throw, the wire shredded and the 16 pound hammer sailed off, right into the lower leg of someone there watching. Totally freak thing, but the guy's leg was busted open with a compound fracture. Nasty.

clm

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

It's weird to hear about it happening with shot put. Way harder to have an out of control sector foul than with discus or hammer, and you just can't get as much velocity with a shot as you can with other throwing implements. When I was in college, our guys team was at a meet where someone got killed by a badly sector-fouled hammer, and they said it was a freaky, freaky thing.

I've seen a fair number of people get hit by discs, including a girl who took one in the head and didn't lose consciousness. (and I came close to hitting people a time or two myself)

i recall something several years back...i might have still been in college or shortly afterwards...some girl got hit in the head by a javelin during a high school meet. got taken to the hospital and i think she lived. might have been in the new brunswick, nj area actually, right near where i went to school. don't remember how serious the injury was, but i'd definitely take my chances with the shot put over a javelin. that would freak me out, being anywhere near the path of one of the throwing events.

Saw a guy snap off a pole in the pole vault......it went in his side....nasty ragged fiber glass....he did live.

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I shall never misuse Rex Kwon Do
I shall be a champion of freedom and justice

A member of my college track team was hit in the head by a thrown hammer; he was outside the sector and actually had the screen between the circle and himself. The handle of the hammer caught the edge of the screen and whipped it around the screen. Luckily, Steve received only a glancing blow. He still thought he was gonna die.

One of the greatest potential decathletes in NJ (Vince Reilly) was playing volleyball when he backed into his javelin that he had stuck in the ground (at a really inappropriate angle); skewered him good, but didn't kill him. He wasn't known to be very bright, although I never met him.


I believe there was a photographer at either the Olympics or another major international meet who got hit in the camera by a javelin thrown outside the sector; no injury.

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"Go yell at an M&M"

There was a case in the UK a couple of years ago when a school girl had a javelin thrown clean through her neck. She didn't lose consciousness and by some miracle the javelin managed to miss/push aside all the major arteries and her windpipe. The paramedics arrived and had to cut off a two foot length on site and take it to hospital with her before they dared remove it - she lived.

One of the most amazing things I ever saw at a track was at my school sports day when a combination of what was about to be a new school record and a distracted spectator seemed set to lead to almost exactly the same results as above. my coach (who ran X for the UK) saw what was about to happen, ran 10 yards and caught the javelin mid flight. Incredible.

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"Are you sure we're going fast enough?" - Emil Zatopek

Technical correction he was killed by a shot not a shot put, or you could say he was killed by a put shot but not a shot put.

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"A society is defined not only by what it creates, but by what it refuses to destroy."
John Sawhill

This is very sad and unfortunately things like this happen from time to time in t&f. As a kid our our track group held workouts at a D-1 college. The hammer/disc cage and javelin run way were located in the infield of the track. Our coach pounded into our heads no running across the infield with the punishment being 100 push ups if caught. It was pretty effective since I still won't run across the infield as a college coach and 12 years latter. Unfortunately officals have to put themselves in a potentially dangerous situation to accurately see where implements land. In many cases seniors in their late 60's to 70's are the ones that donate their time to officiate meets. They were former track athletes and still want to give back to the sport, which is great. Their reaction time is just not the same as it was in their younger years and increases the odds of being hit by an implement. I believe the official was 77 in this case.

I am surprised it doesn't happen more often, especially at the high school level. I saw a freshman shot putter get hit in the side of the head. Fortunately he survived and didn't even have to go to the hospital. The kid just walked right in front of the circle.

As a former vaulter, I can't tell you how many people walked in front of me as I was running full speed down the runway with a 15'6" pole (of course this was only a problem during the indoor season).