Many people think that track is one of the safe sports where there is a slim chance of getting seriously hurt, but that is not entirely true.

     The throwing events—discus, javelin, and shot put—are all events in a track meet. At one point, all of these items were used as weapons.

   The discus emanated from the Australian boomerang, which was a weapon used by the Aboriginals to hunt animals. They soon realized that the animals were too quick and could easily avoid the boomerang. Thus, a faster weapon was needed.

     The Aboriginals carved out round pieces of hard wood, which they called the discus. It is named the discus because of the noise it made while flying through the air. The discus soon evolved into a thick metal Frisbee, used in ancient times to kill people.

     Eric Moraniec, a former Woodland discus thrower, believes the discus is a dangerous object that could cause severe injury, as it can be thrown up to 200 feet by a high school athlete.

“The discus is extremely deadly and people can be seriously hurt if it hits them,” Moraniec said.  Moraniec was an All-Naugatuck Valley League discus thrower in 2005 and had a few accidents in his time. He once threw a disk that went flying and hit a girl who was throwing a javelin all the way on the other side of the field.

    A discus also hit Woodland senior Jim Hart in the inner thigh close to groin. “It was painful,” Hart said, stating the obvious.

     The discus is not the only part of track that can be dangerous, one that also carries a risk of serious injury is the javelin. The javelin can be thrown in excess of 190 feet by an elite high school athlete.

     According to eHow.com, early javelins are thought to have been used as weapons. The javelin was a pole with a shaft that was usually wood and had a sharp tip. As civilizations developed, they started to throw the javelin not only for hunting but for sport and combat.

     The final and one of the relatively unsafest throwing events in track is the shot put. The shot put is a 12-pound cannonball. The first known events of modern shot put most likely took place in the Middle Ages, when soldiers held competitions in which they hurled cannon balls.

      Getting injured by a flying shot is rare. One such instance was when high school track athlete Patrick Whalen put the shot and struck official Paul Suzuki as he was strolling across the field. Suzuki died the day after from his injuries.

     These examples of throwing-related injuries just go to show that a heightened sense of awareness is important when at a track meet.

Photo Credit: http://www.beijingolympicsfan.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/img214571497.jpg