lucky to be alive
Track is a dangerous event. I have twice been at meets where kids got hit in the head by a discus. I've seen someone speared with a javelin, and I have seen some pretty nasty pole vault injuries including one fairly severe head injury.
Hope the kid is ok, and everyone should keep their wits about them at a track meet if you are anywhere near the field of competition.
Ok
I'd consider the shot relatively safe, but the javelin and hammer throw are just crazy anachronisms in this day and age, and it might be time to move on.
All events are pretty safe (though never 100% safe) if everyone is paying attention and proper safety measures are in place, but even the shot can be fatal.
must have been like a cannonball to his f**king face.
Do you know what I mean?
Do you know what I mean, for crying out loud?
Poor b*stard.
Hope it was quick at least.
These dangerous idiotic events should be abolished from track and field venues.
GET RID OF FIELD
Reminds me of a random (non Hs) meet I was at where a pole vaulter missed the cushion and broke his skull. It was so sad and There was a minute of silence for him.
Well did the throw count???
Note to self: Remember to never go to a track meet with M.C. Confusing
the shot is so slow moving, he really must not have been paying any attention.
the disk, or javelin.. yeah, you can get messed up even when you are dialed in, but the shot?
it is like I say, friend. Cannonball, meet face.
Cannonball meet his f*cking face.
God help us if the lights stayed on longer than a split second.
Poor b*stard.
I will be thinking of you for some time.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA
It was really surprising to see how unreactive some of the track officials were at the Trials yesterday when we had that wild discus throw. I get that they didn't expect a discus to fly way over by where they were, but there were a few who just sat there as if nothing was happening. When I officiated, they absolutely hammered us to be vigilant whenever a throw was going on. No harm done in this case, but it was still unnerving.
Get rid of the steeplechase, hurdles, pole vault, jumps, vault, spikes, and shoot, just get rid of the whole sport as there's danger everywhere!
An excerpt from NYT article reporting on the 1984 Vitalis Indoor Track & Field Invitational at the Meadowlands, documenting a weird accident involving middle distance star Mark Belger and a pole vault:
By Frank Litsky
Jan. 28, 1984
Credit...The New York Times Archives
See the article in its original context from
January 28, 1984, Section 1,
A Freakish Accident
Sammy Koskei of Kenya, helped by a freakish accident, won the Mike Devaney 1,000 meters for the second straight year. Koskei beat Jim Spivey by 7 meters in 2:22.68.
With two laps remaining, Koskei was leading and Mark Belger, a crowd favorite here since his high school days on Long Island and his college days at Villanova, was second. As they were running down the stretch, Pierre Quinon of France, a 19-1 vaulter outdoors, was running down the runway to attempt 18-8 1/4.
Quinon's approach was off, and he decided to abort the jump. He had started to plant the pole in the takeoff box, and he let go of it. Before an official could grab the pole, it headed for the track.
Koskei ducked under it. Belger could not, and the pole hit him on the head and arm. Belger, stunned for the moment, dropped back and finished fifth in the seven-man field in 2:24:25. ''That pole made a difference in my race,'' said Belger. ''It happened at a point in the race when my confidence was high, and all of a sudden your confidence is broken. I was moving up to make my final move and getting in position when it happened.''
''I didn't even know what happened,'' said Koskei. ''I was ahead of the field anyway, and I kept looking back at the rest of the field.''
My bad. The incident happened at the 1984 Milrose Games.