Aug. 15, 2008
Results
COLUMBIA, Mo. - (BEIJING) Start spreading the news, Mizzou has a new Olympic medalist. Missouri volunteer assistant coach Christian Cantwell (Eldon, Mo.) won the silver medal in the men's shot put, Friday, in the first day of Athletics at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing. Cantwell used, and needed, his final throw of 69 feet, 2½ inches (21.09m) to jump from fifth place and onto the medal platform. For Cantwell in his first Olympics, he becomes Mizzou's sixth all-time medalist, the first since Natasha Kaiser-Brown brought home silver in the 1992 Barcelona games in the women's 4x400-meter relay and the first individual medalist since Dick Cochran grabbed bronze in the men's discus in 1960.
The final was held just 12 hours after the qualifying round occurred earlier in the morning, causing some overall unsavory results for all competitors, as only one, Gold medalist Tomasz Majewski, would eclipse the 70-foot mark (21.51m, 70-7). Cantwell would stand fourth after the first three attempts, hitting 68-10 (20.98m) on his second toss. Meanwhile, Canada's Dylan Armstrong stood third with a national-record 69-½ (21.04m) toss, Andrei Mikhnevich of Belarus was second with his best of the day of 69-¾ (21.05m), and Majewski was the leader with a 69-7 (21.21m).
Majewski would earn his day's best on his fourth attempt to finally put someone over 70 feet, asking the rest of the field to come and get him. Cantwell would fall to fifth in the fourth round as Belarus' Pavel Lyzhyn would earn a better second, tie-breaking toss than Cantwell. The fifth and sixth round was highly uneventful as many fouled, but Cantwell started to find his stride, moving to second with his final round toss. Cantwell then had to wait anxiously while Lyzhyn, Mikhnevich, and Armstrong would all get their chances to knock the Tiger from the stand. Mikhnevich would come the closest with a 68-8 (20.93m) response, but, it wasn't enough. Armstrong finished fourth despite his national record.
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Overall, it wasn't the day that the Americans were expecting to have. Reese Hoffa finished out of the medals for the second-straight games in finishing seventh while two-time Silver medalist Adam Nelson four fouled out of the competition, failing to record a fair mark in any of his first three throws.
NBC will air tape-delayed coverage of the event throughout the day.
COVERAGE FROM BEIJING
Cantwell's final throw heroic - even if he doesn't realize it at first
By Joe Posnanski, Kansas City Star
Silver is precious medal
By Joe Walljasper, Columbia Daily Tribune
(includes quotes from Missouri Associate Head Coach Brett Halter and Head Coach Dr. Rick McGuire
'Last Throw, best throw' gets Mizzou grad Cantwell shot put silver
By Mechelle Voepel, Kansas City Star
Mixed feelings for silver medalist Cantwell
By Vahe Gregorian, St. Louis Post-Disptach
MIZZOU ALL-TIME MEDALISTS
Jackson Scholtz: 1920, 4x100m Relay, GOLD; 1924, 100m Dash, Silver; 1924, 200m Dash, GOLD
Brutus Hamilton: 1920, Decathlon, Silver
Dan Pippin: 1952, Basketball, GOLD
Dick Cochran: 1960, Discus, Bronze
Natasha Kaiser-Brown: 1992, 4x400m Relay, Silver
Christian Cantwell: 2008, Shot Put, Silver
