Parry O'Brien

William Parry O'Brien Jr. ( born January 28, 1932 in Santa Monica, California, the son of a Russian mother and an Irish, † April 21, 2007 in Santa Clarita ) was an American track and field athlete, who in the 1950s and 1960s in the shot put was able to celebrate a number of successes. He pushed eleven world records and in 1952 and 1956 Olympic champion.

Career

The son of a Russian mother and an Irish began his sporting career as a football player, but switched after he had a kick sustained in a scuffle in the stomach, the shot put.

Between 1952 and 1956 O'Brien celebrated 116 victories in a row. In 1959 he was awarded the Sullivan Award. At the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964, he was the standard-bearer of his team.

O'Brien was 1.92 m tall and weighed at the beginning of his long athletic career 114 kg, but over the years put on 25 kg. As a power food served him especially honey bees, from which he mitführte a supply at all competitions.

Although he was generally unpopular because of his arrogance and his airs and graces, they awarded him the honorary title of Mr. Shot Put in recognition of the fact that he revolutionized the Shot Put and the so-called O'Brien technique (also: back shock or Angleittechnik ) invented, which is still used today by several Kugelstoßern and all interior shot putter.

Parry O'Brien was an officer in the Air Force and later worked as an officer at a bank.

The O'Brien technique ( spinal shock or Angleittechnik )

It all began with a competition in Stuttgart, the then 19 -year-old Parry O'Brien denied in 1951 during a European trip. He lay down at 17 meters - with that exact length he had weeks earlier won for the first time the U.S. Championships and world record holder Jim Fox defeated - a towel on the grass, and even when the competition was over long ago, he was still trying the towel meet, but to no avail. So he began to think about his shot put technique, and found out that you can achieve more distance when passing the ball as long as possible in the hand and thereby enhances the leverage. To this end, he stood with his back to thrust and received by the flat planing deep into the squat, after which he followed an explosive body extension and the ball repelled high. This technique he practiced in front of a mirror in the basement of his parents' house. Success was not long in coming: Parry O'Brien pushed the ball the first man on earth over 18 m ( 1953) and 19 m (1956).

In his last active year, 1966, he scored as a 34 - year-old with 19.69 m personal best, with which he took fourth place in the global leaderboard.

Services

Olympic games

Pan American Games

  • Pan American Games 1955 in Mexico City: Gold
  • Pan American Games 1959 in Chicago: Gold

National Title

  • NCAA: 1952 and 53
  • AAU ball outdoor: 1951-1956, 1959 and 1960
  • AAU discus: 1955
  • AAU Hall: 1953-1961

Records

The current world record in the shot put of the men asked Randy Barnes with 23.12 meters on 20 May 1990 in Westwood (USA).

Awards

1984 Parry O'Brien was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. On November 14, 2013, induction into the Hall of Fame of the World Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF ) was performed.

Medal Summer Olympic Games 1955 Pan American Games 1959 Pan American Games American Football Darrow Hooper Bill Nieder 1960 Summer Olympics Dallas Long 1964 Summer Olympics National Collegiate Athletic Association Amateur Athletic Union Albuquerque, New Mexico Eugene (Oregon) Pasadena, California Salt Lake City Des Moines, Iowa Compton, California Fresno, California Westwood (Los Angeles) International Association of Athletics Federations Robert Garrett Richard Sheldon Ralph Rose Pat McDonald (athlete) Bud Houser John Kuck Leo Sexton Hans Woellke Wilbur Thompson Udo Beyer Alessandro Andrei Ulf Timmermann Arsi Harju Adam Nelson Tomasz Majewski Integrated Authority File
634582
de