The Romans did not really chuck rock

[12string]

They threw discus

[groupw]

The “Jewy” Romans were awesome! With their black leather tunics. 

[maddmaxx ★]

David threw rocks, but he was pitching against the Giants.

[MickinMD ★]

On 1/29/2024 at 4:03 PM, 12string said:

They threw discus

 

The Ancient Greek Olympics long jump allowed runners to carry two stones, smoothed and grooved, in their hands, each weighing 3.1 to 4.4 lbs depending on the weight of the jumper.

The longest recorded long jump in those games was 664BC Olympic champion Chionis of Sparta clearing an unbelievable 52ft.  One rumor said he jumped so far he went past the soft landing zone and broke his legs.

The modern world record is 29 feet, 4 3/4 inches.

So some athletic analysts began to wonder what the stones did, or wondered if their long jump was today's triple jump (hop, skip, jump), where the modern world record is 51 feet, 7 1/2 inches.  One of my high school track teammates named Bernie and I competed in the 1967 All Eastern Meet of the AAU against college and world record holders, our coach slipping us in.  At age 16, I ran a 4:45 mile and came in 12th of 14, watching Villanova teammates Charlie Messenger and half-mile world record holder Dave Patrick battle it out for first while I was on the other side of the track.  But Bernie WON the triple jump and it was a sight to behold, almost 45 feet and would have won him the state championship in the event if he had done it a month earlier!

Today, it's pretty much agreed that the Chionis record distance is due to understandable embellishment over the centuries/millennia.