Osaka 2007 - Men's Shot Put: Hoffa’s competitive fire

25 August 2007Osaka, JapanAfter winning his first global outdoor title in the men’s Shot Put tonight – winning by a comfortable 43cm margin with a 22.04m effort - Reese Hoffa thanked the man he had displaced as World champion – his training partner, Adam Nelson – and his father for giving him the “competitive fire”. But it is the literal fire – the one that Hoffa started when he was four years old and which burned down the family home – that will live as long in his memory as any sporting success.

First call to mom

As Hoffa left the stadium here, he said one of the first calls he would have to make would be to his biological mother, Diana Watts. “When I was four years old my mum gave me up for adoption and, about 18 years later, I end up finding her on the internet,” Hoffa recalled. Mother and son were reunited and she would have been following his progress in Osaka back in Jacksonville, Florida. “I am sure she is very excited,” Hoffa said.

According to Hoffa’s recollection of events, his elder brother, Lamont, aged six at the time, held a cigarette lighter to the fabric cords that hung off the home curtains then used a cup of water to douse the flames. When no water was left, Lamont went for more, leaving the lighter on the bed. Reese flicked it on and the curtains caught fire, consuming the two-storey home.

Weeks after the blaze, his mother, an unmarried teenager, took Reese to an orphanage in Louisville and left him there.

“Deep down inside, I thought maybe she would be back tomorrow – it never happened,” Hoffa told the Washington Post. Separated from his brother as well as his mother, he drew the conclusion that starting of the fire had driven her to abandon him. “I burned down our house and that put a strain on our family,” he said.

Overcoming difficulties

Yet, despite his difficult start in life, Hoffa has developed into a dedicated athlete and bright personality. It has been suggested that, never mind athletics, he could just as easily have carved himself a career as a circus entertainer. He can juggle machetes, fire clubs and shots and can solve a Rubik cube in 45sec. At the 2003 Home Depot competition in Carson, California, he turned up wearing a cape and mask – like a scene from Phantom of the Opera – and competed as “the unknown thrower”.

He has a tendency, too, to perform 133kg cartwheels on the infield at top international meetings but he gave a more restrained celebration tonight.  “This is a World Championships and a certain level of professionalism [is appropriate] for the event,” the 29-year-old Hoffa said. “There is a time and a place and this was not the place at all.”

Hoffa settled for shaking hands and bowing to officials. “The officials go out there - I am sure they are not being paid a lot – and they deserve a lot of respect for doing this just for the love of track and field,” he said. Having given the United States the first of many expected gold medals in these championships, Hoffa then paid tribute to Nelson.

Credit to training partner Nelson

Nelson maintained his record of winning a medal at every Olympic Games and World Championships since 2000 but had to settle for silver as Hoffa added an outdoor triumph to his 2006 World Indoor title. In his two previous outdoor global championships – the 2003 World Championships and 2004 Olympics – Hoffa had failed to make the final. Nelson, Hoffa said, had made the difference.

“In terms of my success over the years, I guess I go back to Adam,” Hoffa said. “When I was just a college athlete he came down to Georgia - I think it was 2001 - and in a way showed me the ropes. At the time I was not that good but I saw what an elite level shot putter looked like. He gave me tons of advice for many, many years – he just kicked my butt every day in practice to get me to where I needed to be mentally and physically.

“He has given me many pearls of information, not just in terms of throwing but the mental aspects of preparing for a meet. Definitely this was the first major championships that I have been able to use the knowledge I have gained from Adam to succeed.” And the part played by Hoffa’s father, Stephen? “I guess my competitive fire would have to come from him,” the champion said. “He gave me the blueprint to compete hard and do it with a lot of integrity”.

Hoffa is the sixth US winner of the men’s Shot Put in the last seven World Championships. “I guess the tradition of great throwing in the US is that we are so competitive,” Hoffa said. “In order to make the team, you really have to put together an incredible result. We don’t have an opportunity to just rest and think we can just rest up to the World Championships. We really have to earn our way there.”