Manuel Martinez of Spain celebrates winning the shot put final (© Getty Images)
It was in Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena, England, at 19.50hrs GMT on the 14 March 2003, that Spain’s Manuel Martínez unleashed a 21.24m throw with his final sixth round attempt, to become IAAF World Indoor Shot Put champion by a mere centimetre, in what was the best ever indoor contest.
Martínez lifted his arms in celebration even before the scoreboard could confirm that he had just taken the lead, held by the defending champion America’s John Godina since round three with a mighty heave of 21.23.
Godina was putting last by virtue of being the competition leader after 3 throws, and though his response was good, his final effort was measured at 20.66, Martínez had snatched the gold.
”Honestly, this success is a well-deserved reward, as I have been training hard for so many years,” said Martínez.
The Spaniard’s series was his best ever, with no less than four attempts exceeding the 21m barrier and an average throw of 20.97 (20.73, 21.14, 21.07, 21.01, 20.70, 21.24). In fact, the Birmingham meet in general reached awesome standards, with the bronze medallist performing beyond the 21m barrier for the first time at a World Indoors.
At the Lisbon 2001 Worlds, Martínez became the first non-American or Ukrainian shot putter to win a medal (bronze) since 1995, and therefore his success in Birmingham should have come as no real surprise. However, despite his throwing pedigree he had been hampered by gastroenteritis - which he had contracted on January 31 - and his performances in February had been low key as a result.
As the entry deadline for Birmingham was 4 March, the reigning European indoor champion officially entered the Worlds with a yearly PB of just 20.06, which he set during the National championships. However, just prior to the World Indoors, Martínez by then fully recovered from his illness, had put 20.82 at the Portugal vs Spain meet in Espinho on 8 March.
“I faced these championships very confident as I had done good feelings in Espinho. Fortunately, my shape was increasingly better as the season developed and I was able to leave my illness behind me, just in time. Actually, I had never ever put that far (20.82) in a last competition before a major event, ” confirmed a delighted Martínez.
In winning the coveted world crown he had to defeat an illustrious field comprising three-time World outdoor champion Godina, the Olympic champion Arsi Harju of Finland, the reigning European champion Yuriy Belonog of Ukraine, and the year’s longest thrower American Kevin Toth (who failed to make the final).
Despite his stunning accomplishment, Martínez does not consider himself as the World’s number one. “It’s true that I’m now the World champion, but I wouldn’t say ‘I’m the best putter’. There are a number of specialists on a similar level and each of us is able to beat the others on a given day”.
In Birmingham, the new World champion made up for his disappointing fifth place at the Europeans in Munich last summer. Martínez was then regarded as the undisputed favourite, since he had remained unbeaten among the European throwers throughout the 2002 campaign.
In March 2002, he had won his first title at the European indoors in Vienna (21.26 from Denmark’s Joaquim Olsen’s 21.23), and his only loss of the season had come to America’s Adam Nelson in Salamanca in mid-July, despite breaking the national record with a 21.47 throw on his opening try.
“I wish all my defeats could be like that, it would be fantastic!” said a laughing Martínez, who remarked, “to lose against a man (Adam Nelson) who ranks now eighth on the all-time list - thanks to his 22.51 in 2002 - was not hard for me at all and I am reaching his standards bit by bit”.
Martínez took up athletics at the age of 15, when he first met his mentor Carlos Burón in his hometown of León, and has been coached by him ever since. At 17, Martínez made a big breakthrough when taking silver at the World Juniors in Seoul back in 1992. He lost there to Yuriy Belonog, their performances being 18.46 and 18.14 but took revenge on the Ukrainian to become European Junior champion on home soil (San Sebastián 93), with Belonog in fourth.
Since then, Martínez has been present at most major championships (Olympics, Worlds and Europeans, indoors and outdoors) for the last decade, his debut being at the 93’ Stuttgart Worlds, when still aged 18.
But there was a painful exception to this run of appearances at the highest level: “I fell injured in the spring of 1999 (he underwent cartilage and ligament surgery) and I had to miss the Seville World Championhips where I would have thrown in front of my home crowd” recalls Martínez.
Measuring ‘only’ 1.85 and weighing 130 kilos, the 28-year-old Spaniard is one of the smallest top shot putters in the world but is extremely fast and dynamic in the circle to compensate for his lack of height. Some knowledgeable people even think that Martínez could even hold up well against the best sprinters in the world over a distance not longer than 10 or 15 metres, given his burst of speed. “Absolutely, because that point is exactly what I work most on in my training sessions, the first three or four steps specifically”.
Asked about the 22m barrier Martínez declares, “it is not a matter of putting 22m. What really matters is to be consistent around the 21.00-21.50 range: that’s my primary goal and what will make me a dangerous competitor. “
”During my sessions I usually throw 20 or 30 times and I have managed to put 21.90m. The secret? It’s your ball, your circle, you have no pressure and above all you can throw as frequently as you want. In the official competition you often have to wait plenty of time between round and round, that’s the key reason why is easier to get a big throw in training”.
Martínez looks forward to the 9th IAAF World Championships which will be held in Paris next August. “I’ll just try to do my very best, to reach my summer peak there, put over 21m and hopefully take a medal”.
That feat would mean his first outdoor medal at a major event, after placing fourth at the last Worlds in Edmonton behind the American pair of Godina and Nelson, plus Finland’s Arsi Harju, the latter snatching the bronze medal by two centimetres (20.93 to Martínez’s 20.91).
An accomplished sculptor in his free time, the Spaniard has no less than 32 national records to his credit, evenly distributed (16 outdoors, 16 indoors) for the last ten years, with the current performances standing at 21.47 and 21.26 respectively.
The Pole Vault, Javelin, Hammer and the 400m Indoors are the events he enjoys most as an spectator. Looking back to Shot Put history, Martínez regards the former World record holder Ulf Timmerman (GDR) as ‘the shot putter with the best technique I have ever seen.”
Emeterio Valiente for the IAAF
