I certainly never saw myself as a hammer thrower.

Even now, two years after my retirement from competition, people ask me how I ever got into a sport so far beyond the mainstream. The answer is never as clever or as interesting as people would like.

For those unfamiliar with the hammer, it is a 119.5 centimeter length of wire with a steel ball on one end and a handle on the other. A thrower stands in a circle 2.135 meters in diameter and swings the hammer overhead one to three times, then makes three or four revolutions in the circle before releasing it into the air. A well-thrown hammer can soar more than 80 meters.

This is much harder than it looks. The hammer throw combines strength, balance, timing, and the absolute necessity of near-perfect technique in one of the most exciting and artistic of field events, as well as one of the most technical.

The initial instinct of almost every rookie who tries the hammer is to pull on it. I suppose this is because the ball looks heavy (it weighs 7.2 kilos for men and 4 kilos for women) and the sport looks like it requires tremendous physical effort. But most of the effort is in exercising patience. The best hammer throwers are masters of balance and patience.