HMMR Podcast Episode 319: Olympic throws review (with Don Babbitt)
The throwing events at this month’s Olympic Games brought plenty of excitement. Paris had it all, from dominating performances in the hammer to drama in the shot put and Olympic records in the discus and javelin and drama. On this week’s podcast our friend Don Babbitt joins us again to break down the Olympic action, trends, and storylines that stood out the most to us.
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Don Babbitt is the throwing coach and Associate Head Coach at the University of Gerogia. In nearly three decades at the school he has guided some of the top collegiate and professional throwers in the world, including Reese Hoffa, Adam Nelson, Breaux Greer, Jason Tunks, Andras Haklits, and many more. In addition, he supports World Athletics on coaching education and throwing topics.
Related resources
- This episode is brought to you by HMMR Plus. Become a member for full access to our videos, articles, and podcast archives.
- You can learn more about Babbitt’s background from the University of Georgia webpage.
- The national trends for the throws discussed in this episode are discussed in more detail in this article. You can also see the stats from 2023, as well as listen to our World Championships debrief last year with Rene Sack on Episode 307.
- HMMR Plus Members can watch Babbitt break down rotational shot put styles, technical development, and training methods in this 3.5 hour video lesson.
- Babbitt was also a guest on Episode 318 previewing the 2024 Olympic Trials, Episode 305 previewing last year’s world championships, Episode 256 on throwing trends, Episode 170 on throwing biomechanics, and on Episode 116. And he sat down for a lengthy interview on individualization and other training topics back in 2012.
- We recently published a 4-part biomechanical analysis of Mykolas Alekna’s world record which Babbitt contributed to: Part 1: Rhythm and release, Part 2: Delivery subphases, Part 3: Phase duration and orbit, and Part 4: center of mass.
Key quotes and topics
- 0:00 – Introduction
- 2:15 – Country trends in the throws
- 12:00 – The struggles of the US long throws
- 19:45 – Adjusting technique to the conditions
- 25:45 – Hammer throw and the sophomore slump
- 31:45 – Javelin analysis and trends
- 38:30 – Factors in discus championship throwing
- 46:00 – Crouser the coach and final thoughts
Complete transcript
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