Parry O'Brien
Parry O'Brien | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Full name | William Parry O'Brien Jr. | |||||||||||||||||||||
nation | United States | |||||||||||||||||||||
birthday | January 28, 1932 | |||||||||||||||||||||
place of birth | Santa Monica | |||||||||||||||||||||
size | 190 cm | |||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 111 kg | |||||||||||||||||||||
date of death | April 21, 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Place of death | Santa Clarita | |||||||||||||||||||||
Career | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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discipline | Shot put | |||||||||||||||||||||
Best performance | 19.69 m | |||||||||||||||||||||
society | Los Angeles Athletic Club | |||||||||||||||||||||
Medal table | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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William Parry O'Brien Jr. (born January 28, 1932 in Santa Monica , California , the son of a Russian and an Irishman, † April 21, 2007 in Santa Clarita ) was an American athlete who worked in the 1950s and 1960s celebrated a number of successes in the shot put . He broke eleven world records and became Olympic champion in 1952 and 1956 .
Career
The son of a Russian and an Irishman began his athletic career as a footballer , but switched to the shot put after being kicked in the stomach in a scuffle.
Between 1952 and 1956 O'Brien celebrated 116 victories in a row. In 1959 he was awarded the Sullivan Award . At the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, he was the flag bearer of his team.
O'Brien was 1.92 m tall and weighed 114 kg at the beginning of his long athletic career, but gained 25 kg over the years. As force him food served especially honey , of which he was bringing a supply at all competitions.
Although he was generally unpopular because of his arrogance and starry airs , he was given the honorary title of Mr. Shot Put in recognition of the fact that he revolutionized the shot put and invented the so-called O'Brien technique (also: back kick or angle technique), which is still used today by a number of shot putters and all shot putters.
Parry O'Brien was an officer in the Air Force and later worked as an authorized officer at a bank.
The O'Brien technique (back thrust or leveling technique)
It all began with a competition in Stuttgart , which the then 19-year-old Parry O'Brien competed in 1951 on the occasion of a trip to Europe. He lay down a towel in the grass at 17 m - this was the exact distance he had won the US championships for the first time weeks before and defeated world record holder Jim Fuchs - and even after the competition was long over, he was still trying to close the towel meet, but in vain. So he began to think about his shot put technique and found that you can achieve greater distances by holding the ball in your hand for as long as possible, thereby increasing the leverage . To do this, he stood with his back facing the direction of the thrust and crouched deeply while planing flat , after which he followed an explosive body extension and pushed the ball high. He practiced this technique in front of a mirror in the basement of his parents' house. Success was not long in coming: Parry O'Brien was the first to hit the ball over 18 m (1953) and 19 m (1956).
In his last active year, 1966, as a 34-year-old he achieved his personal best with 19.69 m , with which he took fourth place on the world's best list.
Services
Olympic games
- 1952 in Helsinki : Gold with 17.41 m ahead of Darrow Hooper ( USA ) with 17.39 m and Jim Fuchs ( USA ) with 17.06 m
- 1956 in Melbourne : Gold with 18.57 m ahead of Bill Nieder (USA) with 18.18 m and Jiří Skobla ( Czechoslovakia ) with 17.65 m
- 1960 in Rome : Silver with 19.11 m behind Bill Nieder (USA) with 19.68 m and in front of Dallas Long (USA) with 19.01 m
- 1964 in Tokyo : fourth with 19.20 m behind Dallas Long (USA) with 20.33 m, Randy Matson (USA) with 20.20 m and Vilmos Varjú ( Hungary ) with 19.39 m
Pan American Games
- 1955 Pan American Games in Mexico City : Gold
- 1959 Pan American Games in Chicago : Gold
National titles
- NCAA : 1952 and 53
- AAU ball open air: 1951 to 1956, 1959 and 1960
- AAU discus: 1955
- AAU Halle: 1953 to 1961
Records
- 19,30 m - August 1, 1959 - Albuquerque
- 19.25 m - October 1, 1956 - Los Angeles
- 19.10m - November 1, 1956 - Los Angeles
- 19.06m - September 3, 1956 - Eugene
- 18.97 m - September 3, 1956 - Eugene
- 18.70 m - August 18, 1956 - Pasadena
- 18.69 m - June 15, 1956 - Los Angeles
- 18.62 m - May 5, 1956 - Salt Lake City
- 18.54m - June 11, 1954 - Los Angeles
- 18.44m - June 11, 1954 - Los Angeles
- 18.43m - June 11, 1954 - Los Angeles
- 18.43 m - May 21, 1954 - Los Angeles
- 18.42m - May 8, 1954 - Los Angeles
- 18.23 m - April 24, 1954 - Des Moines
- 18.04m - June 5, 1953 - Compton
- 18.00 m - May 9, 1953 - Fresno
The current world record in the men's shot put was set by Randy Barnes with 23.12 meters on May 20, 1990 in Westwood (USA).
Awards
In 1984 Parry O'Brien was inducted into the US Olympic Hall of Fame .
In 2013 he was inducted into the IAAF Hall of Fame .
Web links
- O'Brien rzutyiskoki.pl
- Entry in the Hall of Fame of USA Track & Field
- Parry O'Brien, 75; champion revolutionized shotput throw , obituary by Helene Elliott in the Los Angeles Times , April 23, 2007
- Parry O'Brien, Pioneer in Shot-Putting Technique, Dies at 75 , obituary by Frank Litsky in the New York Times , April 23, 2007
- Parry O'Brien, two-time Olympic Shot Put champion, dies at 75 ( Memento from May 5, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), obituary by Mel Watman on the IAAF website, April 25, 2007
- Parry O'Brien in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
personal data | |
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SURNAME | O'Brien, Parry |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | O'Brien, William Parry Jr. (full name) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American shot putter and Olympic champion |
DATE OF BIRTH | January 28, 1932 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Santa Monica |
DATE OF DEATH | April 21, 2007 |
Place of death | Santa Clarita |