On his 26th birthday Sunday, Joe Kovacs will step into a 7-foot diameter circle, position a 16-pound ball against his neck behind his right ear, spin twice inside that circle and launch that ball, likely propelled by a yell, some 70 feet before it thuds to the earth at Oregon’s Hayward Field.
Then the 6-foot, 275-pound Pennsylvanian will celebrate by pumping his arms or slapping his hands, if the last year is any harbinger of what to expect at the USA Track and Field Championships men’s shot put competition in Eugene on Sunday.
Kovacs’ routine lasts a few seconds, but his ascent to become the world’s best shot putter, as with most Olympic hopefuls, took years, and didn’t always go according to plan.