G. Martin Bingisser

How to Make the Diamond League Sparkle

Martin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:12:44 +0000

As the first year of the Diamond League drew to a close last weekend, reviews and commentary are beginning to pop up online. The comments so far, however, have focused mostly on whether or not the series has been good for the athletes. I think that's a fairly simple question to answer: it tends to be better for some of the minor events and worse for the top events. The shot putters I've talked to have loved the series. The event was rarely included in the Diamond League in the past decade, but this year they have been included in a high-profile meets getting the athletes both more exposure and more money. Other events have seen a decline in competitions and earnings. Because more events have been included, appearance fees have become rare in order to pay for the extra events (except for the select few Diamond League Ambassadors). A Twitter exchange between sprint star turned TV announcer Ato Boldon, high jumper Jamie Nieto, and sprint Lisa Barber concluded with Nieto saying "The Diamond League is making it real hard to make a living. Something has got to change." The split program concept, where meets alternate hosting certain events, also means less meets for 100m runners and stars from events that used to be included in every meet. Sprinter Carmelita Jeter told Spikes Magazine that "This year I had about 40 to 50% less races, because of the split programme concept." (By my count, she's only done 13 meets outdoors this year versus 23 last year). This also hurts mid-level athletes, since some of the top athletes are now entering mid-level meets to fill the gaps in their schedule, which is leaving the mid-level athletes with fewer chances to compete.

So, to summarize, some athletes win and some lose. And that doesn't even mention the hammer throw, which was excluded from the series all together. Of greater interest to me, however, is whether the Diamond League met its goal of expanding the brand of athletics...

August Results

Martin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:08:42 +0000

If you've been reading my posts regularly, you might have forgotten that I actually throw the hammer. I've posted about being a spectator. I've posted about competing in other throwing events. I've even posted about coaching the hammer throw. Well I am now here to remind you that I also compete in the hammer.

Unfortunately, the chances to compete dwindled after the Swiss Championships and it was exactly one month before my next competition. It is amazing how fast the rust sets back in since it felt like my first competition of the season again. I had four sector fouls to begin the competition and ended up throwing 63.15 meters. The result is okay compared to my results this season, but I was disappointed since I started to feel good in the final round, but had run out of attempts by then. My latest competition was on Sunday, but that is a competition I would rather forget. The weather was great and the meet was well run, but my legs were dead. I felt no power whatsoever, partially due to where I am at in my training program and probably also due to another stone throw competition I competed in the day before the meet (which was worth it, I'm improving and took home a cool trophy for winning both the 40- and 50-kg stones). I still was able to win and take home the prize money, which was quickly spent on a nice delicious pizza with a lakeside view in Locarno. This was my fourth meet of the year in Locarno and I think it truly is the best place for a hammer competition in Switzerland. It is a little out of the way, but it more than makes up for it with consistently good weather and people. I definitely wanted to hang out longer, but, as always, I had to head back to Zürich for work on Monday.

Stone Throwing With Flower Power

Martin — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 09:27:23 +0000

It's a rare opportunity when I guy can put on a powder blue shirt with a edelweiss flower pattern and come off as more masculine, so when I heard about the opportunity to do just that I immediately signed up for the stone throw competition at the 2010 Eidgenössiches Schwing- und Älperfest (ESAF) in Frauenfeld. After all, what is more masculine than seeing who can throw a giant rock the farthest.

Before I explain how the competition went, let me explain a little about the ESAF. The event is the Olympics of traditional Swiss sports. It is held every three years and the main attraction is schwingen, a form of wrestling that is the Swiss national sport and traces its roots back hundreds of years in the Alps. Rather than explain the rules, I suggest you check out this video from the last ESAF in 2007. As you can see, it is an extremely unique and interesting sport to watch and even more fun to watch in person.

It is the environment at ESAF, in addition to the sport, that makes it one of my favorite sporting events to attend. The wrestling arena is packed with nearly 50,000 fans. While tickets have been sold out for months, an equal number of people come without tickets to fill the enormous beer halls showing the matches in the huge grounds surrounding the stadium. Think Super Bowl meets Oktoberfest. Over the course of the two day event over 130,000 bratwurst and 200,000 liters of beer are consumed. It is also a cultural event, with many people wearing traditional Swiss dress and various yodeling groups make their way around the grounds. Perhaps best of all is that the winner becomes a household name and takes their unique share of the $750,000 prize purse: Arnold, a three year old 5'4" angus bull weighing in at 2,500 pounds.

In Memory of the Greatest Hammer Thrower

Martin — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 06:20:40 +0000

If you would like to share your story about Harold, you can do so on a special section set up on his webpage.

I hate starting the a day off with bad news, but that's exactly how my Thursday started this week. I normally check my e-mail right when I get up to see what I missed during daytime in America. My first e-mail was from my father and simply entitled "Harold Connolly." I immediately got a strange feeling about it and, as I opened it, my worst fears were confirmed. My friend and mentor, 1956 gold medalist Harold Connolly had passed away.

An Amazing Life

If there were one word to describe Harold, it would be inspirational. Harold's resume just emits inspiration. After growing up in a working class Irish-Catholic home in Boston, Harold fought through physical setbacks during his youth after a nerve was damaged in his left arm during a difficult birth. Subsequent fractures only made it worse, leaving his left arm about 2/3 the size of his right arm. Nevertheless, he excelled at sports and walked on to Boston College as a shot putter, which is where he was introduced to the hammer throw.

The Big Shot: A Lesson in Thinking Outside the Box

Martin — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 21:32:29 +0000

Although I'm a track fan and athlete, my interest in athletics goes well beyond spectating and competing. For me, I also love the business side of the sport and am constantly thinking about the challenge of how we can grow athletics. One recent idea that has proved very succesful is the shot put's move outside the stadium at many meets. This has been a classic example of thinking outside the box (and the stadium) that has worked.

How We Got Here

While throwing outside the stadium is nothing new, the idea has been gaining traction in the past decade. The short lived Titan Games first tried it in 2003. It was easy for them to decide to put the shot put outside the stadium sinec it was the only track and field event included in the strength oriented program. But, the rest of the events took place indoors and the shot put was held outside. The atmosphere was still great, leading Adam Nelson to say "it was like the combination of a rock concert and fight night." Nelson had an amazing foul at the 2004 meet before the event disappeared. During this time, the Oregon Track Classic also used to hold the shot put outside the stadium before the meet, creating an intimate setting leading to an intense experience where Adam Nelson set his personal best of 22.51m and Kevin Toth placed just third with a throw of 21.78m.