Criticism of javelin event is pointed — and pointless
Doug Robinson
Each spring, kids with the attention spans of cocker spaniels are armed with javelins to throw around the athletic field for a couple of hours.
Doesn't that just sound like trouble?
Taylor Bremner, an athlete at Panguitch High, fell on a javelin a couple of years ago while chasing a bee, driving the tip through his eye socket and 4 inches into his brain. Miraculously, he suffered no permanent damage and was among the state's top throwers this season.
MacKenzie Boogaard, a sprinter at Hillcrest High at the time, took a javelin through the leg three years ago.
Many years ago, my brother Brian was the first to reach a girl on a field in Logan after she had been struck in the back with a javelin. The force drove the javelin out the other side through her chest. He fended off others who wanted to extract the javelin immediately until an ambulance arrived, and she was taken to the hospital in her skewered condition so she wouldn't bleed to death (she lived).
At the state track and field championships earlier this month, a newspaper photographer was struck through the knee by a javelin. It was his fault — he ignored two warnings to stay clear of the javelin sector and wandered in anyway.
One kid somehow managed to impale himself while throwing his own javelin. After a long jumper was pierced in the back by a javelin during a competition in Europe last summer, the IAAF recommended that the javelin not be held while other events are taking place inside the track.
Probably an overdue idea.
Who wants more shish-ka-bobbed athletes?
There's risk in everything, you could argue, but you wonder if the risk must include throwing a sharp metal point into the air?
Maybe they could find another event to replace it — the machete toss or the M-80 throw.
The javelin — also known as a weapon in some countries and anciently used for hunting and wars — sounds like a bad idea, all right, but so do a lot of other sports. To wit:
• Aerial skiing. Yeah, great idea: Let's launch skiers 30 to 50 feet into the air, perform a few acrobatic maneuvers and then hope everything turns out OK.
• Auto racing. Driving 200 mph in rush-hour traffic, and some of the drivers now are women (memo to women: I kid).
• Gymnastics. Jumping and somersaulting on a 4-inch wooden beam?!
Recent comments
Since 1968, I have been a javelin thrower and since 1975 an official...
Roger P. Minert | May 29, 2008 at 7:43 a.m.
i think that if anyone at the high school age is chasing a bee with...
Anonymous | May 28, 2008 at 5:43 p.m.
On a related note, a silent killer is among us. Many Utahn's...
Jim | May 28, 2008 at 1:23 p.m.
