Why doesn't the US produce great discus men anymore?

1)Football

2)Lack of support for post-collegiate's to continue and develop... especially in an event like the discus, where development and continued upward progression in performance can take many years.

I know a 6'8/280 prototype 70m guy that is struggling with continuing due to lack of support. He's a monster athlete, but the time to do everything necessary to develop to his potential is nearly non-existent in his work schedule.

Almost all Americans I've watched over the last 30 years have terrible technique. A bunch of muscle jocks trying to muscle the discus instead of learning how to throw it. Too many drills...too little actual throwing @ 100% out of season to develop good long-term muscle memory and getting the feedback that good and bad throws produce.

So tired of the lousy teaching system in the U.S.

Back to basics. Al Oerter had an estimated 450-500 THOUSAND throws in his lifetime. REPETITION, REPETITION, REPETITION. Get out of the damned weight rooms and into the RING!!!

But we've always had football to compete with and the marks set by the guys up to and including 1984 were set before pro track. So they didn't have a lot of support either.

Ben Plucknett and John Powell are still in the top 10 world all-time. To be fair, as I look over the lists the event on the whole all over the world is a little down. Most recent to crack the top ten was in 2019 by Stahl from Sweden.

We're still throwing the shot better than ever, javelin and hammer have never been strong events so no puzzle there as many states don't even carry the events in high school. But discus and shot are national. I would agree there's probably not a lot of coaching jobs for the discus thus a lack of good coaching.

best talent is lost to ultimate frisbee these days. obviously.

Currently, 63 athletic grants, American football. Sixty years ago, about double the athletic grants, American football. Before then, unlimited grants.

The differences in men & women athletic grants, T&F, historically assumption that American football team would allow some American football players to participate in track & field and skip spring football practice. Now that track & field no longer has easy access to American football players, throws suffer.

The discus requires a very specific athlete compared to the other throws. And sadly this athlete is gobbled up by football and basketball at young ages. Basketball being the bigger culprit. The guys in the 80s were on drugs and you can not escape that argument when comparing distances. Look at any 80s video and see how jacked they all are. Even Al was very strong. And honestly we need more of the meathead aggression in throws not less. The community has been neutered by Anti toxic masculinity

JMysterio wrote:

This used to be a strong event on the world stage. We haven't had a medalist at the Olympics since 1984, prior to that we used to place every Olympics sometimes multiple placers.

Please limit the comments about PEDs...we're not even approaching our own US all-time list.

Of all threads, couldn't believe this post didn't end with the requisite:

______

We have one. Ryan Crouser and he quickly realized THERE IS NO MONEY IN DISCUS ,but he can

only make a living as olympic shot put champion.

I was watch a diamond league event on TV and discus got about 30 seconds of coverage and shot was covered for 5-8 minutes.

Mac Wilkins and his dad coached him growing up and even they had to know, no matter how far he threw that disc, his future was always shot,

Ryan's cousin Sam was an olympic javelin thrower and could not make a living in track and field, which tells you everything about off events in the field.

Discusion wrote:

JMysterio wrote:

This used to be a strong event on the world stage. We haven't had a medalist at the Olympics since 1984, prior to that we used to place every Olympics sometimes multiple placers.

Please limit the comments about PEDs...we're not even approaching our own US all-time list.

Of all threads, couldn't believe this post didn't end with the requisite:

______

I don't get it.

I'm wondering if it's also a logistical issue where it's hard to find a facility that is large enough to throw (and control) the disc for 70 meters. You also would need someone to measure throws and return discs that would be pretty time consuming. Also a good disc costs a lot more than a good shot so you would have to spend some $$ for multiples.

In short, maybe it's just too much of a pain in ass event. It's kind of baffling. Are there any organized clubs for throwers like there are for runners?

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JMysterio wrote:

I'm wondering if it's also a logistical issue where it's hard to find a facility that is large enough to throw (and control) the disc for 70 meters. You also would need someone to measure throws and return discs that would be pretty time consuming. Also a good disc costs a lot more than a good shot so you would have to spend some $$ for multiples.

In short, maybe it's just too much of a pain in ass event. It's kind of baffling. Are there any organized clubs for throwers like there are for runners?

Facilities are a problem for most field events, but throws are really the least affected.

Most competent throws coaches don't really measure in practice, unless it's a comp-type session. So, that's not much of a problem.