Back in the day, I was a discus thrower and a decent one at that. I won a few league championships in high school and college as well as some regional meets. I qualified for the State Championships in high school and just missed being a national level qualifier in college.
But my senior year of college I met Adam Nelson. He was a freshman on the football team and a legitimate shot put phenom. He came to college having thrown 65 feet plus in high school, I believe. He won all of the major league meets his freshman year and I believe became the college’s record holder as well, managing to throw over 60′ as a freshman with the 16 pound shot, a feat almost unheard of for college freshman.
Obviously, I moved on, but I kept track of Adam and he went on to continue to set PR’s and college records in his 4 years of track in college. I believe he broke 68′ at one point during his college career, though I may have that wrong- it might have been longer.
Regardless, 68′ in the shot put is world class and it wasn’t exactly bold to predict he would be competing internationally, specifically in the Olympics. I don’t recall if he competed in any other Olympic games, but I know specifically he competed in Athens in 2004 and took the silver medal- I still remember watching him give Katie Couric a shot lesson after he’d competed. Certainly nothing to sneeze at.
Well, now comes word that the guy who beat him in those Games has been stripped of his medal for PED usage. Thus, everyone below him bumps up a notch meaning Adam is now a gold medal winner. Though, as I tweeted earlier, I’m pretty sure he’d rather have won it outright that day. Still, it’s a nice feather in his cap.