Californiaman Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 From ABC News A German track and field official died Monday a day after he was struck in the face and throat by a javelin thrown by a 16-year-old competitor at a youth athletic competition in Dusseldorf. Dieter Strack, 74, an experienced domestic javelin referee, was trying to measure the distance of a throw that was still in the air when he was hit. “He ran to the sector while the throw was still in the air,” Jochen Grundman, an organizer of the 66th Wilhelm Unger Games, told ABC News. “He probably thought he would calculate the airpath correctly before the javelin touched the ground.” The javelin, which weighs about 700 grams (1.5 pounds) and its steel tip struck the official in the cheek and went down the neck, Grudman said. He shouted, grabbed the javelin, taking it out of his body, and dropped to the ground as officials, a doctor and athletes rushed to him. The 16-year-old competitor watched in shock from afar and cradled his head in his hands. “He and several of the 800 spectators at the event are receiving psychological counseling,” police spokesman Andre Hartwig said over the phone. The referee had a ruptured carotid artery in the neck, was bleeding heavily and was immediately taken to a nearby hospital where he died early Monday morning, a police spokesman confirmed. Officials canceled the remainder of the Wilhelm Unger Games. The 74-year-old Strack was a “popular and experienced sports judge,” the athletics association for Dusseldorf and Neuss said in a statement on its web site. “He was the victim of a tragic accident. All of us who were there are horrified and in shock.” “Although there is a rule not to go to the sector before the throw lands, most experienced judges rush to it while the throw is still in the air,” says Grundman. “They even do that at the Olympic Games.” Accidents like this are rare. In 2007, a French athlete, Salim Sdiri, was hit in the back by a stray javelin and suffered ruptures of his liver and kidney during a competition in Rome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookieman15061 Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 I can honestly say we haven't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShredAstaire Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 What are we discussing? The safety of javelin? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigKahune Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 . Quite a tragedy. Unfortunately it's pretty common for people to get used to the dangerous conditions they work under and then make sometimes tragic mistakes in disregarding safety procedures. It's also concerning that those responsible for people working under dangerous conditions don't insist on safety procedures being followed regardless of the experience of the worker/s. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Searcy Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 At least he died doing something he loved. Much like this man. (CNN) -- A man trying to create a Bigfoot hoax on a highway died after being hit by two cars, officials in Montana said. Randy Lee Tenley dressed in a Ghillie suit -- camouflage designed to resemble heavy foliage -- and stepped out onto Highway 93 Sunday night, officials said. "He probably would not have been very easy to see at all," said Jim Schneider, a state trooper. A 15-year-old girl hit him with her car, another car swerved, and a third car driven by a 17-year-old ran him over, CNN affiliate KECI reported. Tenley was "well into the driving lane," and according to his companions he was "attempting to incite a sighting of Bigfoot -- to make people think they had seen a Sasquatch," Schneider said in the KECI report. But authorities received no calls from drivers thinking they had seen Bigfoot, the station reported. Officials with Montana Highway Patrol District 6, which includes Flathead County where the incident took place, could not be reached for comment Tuesday morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Been to Glacier and over to Kalispell. Nice country, I can see why he tried that! rct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigzag Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Perhaps the title of this thread should be: Darwin Award Nominees Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matonanjin Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Perhaps the title of this thread should be: Darwin Award Nominees Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaleb Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Been to Glacier and over to Kalispell. Nice country, I can see why he tried that! rct I live in this beautiful country! Needless to say, I wasn't surprised, either..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Yea, we haven't had a discussion like this... My position is that I disagree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveinspain Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Searcy Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Yea, we haven't had a discussion like this... My position is that I disagree. Why do you have to make everything political? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 I live in this beautiful country! Needless to say, I wasn't surprised, either..... Saturday morning I was in Hayden Valley listening to the Canyon Pack howl it up at dawn, and today I'm back at work in New Jersey. What a great country we live in! You guys need some of the rain we drove through to get back though. Well, Idaho does. rct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaleb Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Saturday morning I was in Hayden Valley listening to the Canyon Pack howl it up at dawn, and today I'm back at work in New Jersey. What a great country we live in! You guys need some of the rain we drove through to get back though. Well, Idaho does. rct Yes we do...It's so smokey over here (I live in Butte, which is in the heart of SW MT, about 80 miles west of Bozeman). It sucks because the forest service is cracking down on campfires when most of the fires were either caused by lightning storms or irresponsible young adults that go out in the woods and party. I'm responsible with my fires. I always bring my own fire pit, too. Honestly, I don't see the point of camping if you can't have a fire. Sitting by the fire late at night (or early in the morning depending on how you look at it!), telling stories and dirty jokes, playing guitars, passing around the bottle of Crown Royal, watching what I like to call "Indian TV", looking up at the sky and seeing if astronomy did me some good, etc, is the essence of camping for me. I feel for Idaho. Their trees have it worse than our trees. The only upside is that some trees fall, which makes getting firewood easy! I'm sure your trip was fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Awesome as usual. Kayaked out on Lake Yellowstone, climbed up Washburn, took a couple trails we been meanin to get on. Real smokey though. Bad for first time visitors, most of Yellowstone pretty hazy the entire time, and two days down in Jackson were pretty bad, Tetons really in haze. Glad we have seen it all before and glad to be back. Yellowstone in February 2013! Should be cool. yuck yuck yuck. rct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanHenry Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 I feel for the kid who threw the javalin, it's awful, how must he be feeling? Ian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buxom Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Did he die? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kennis Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 speaking of darwin awards: Brilliant Bride Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxson50 Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 BAN ALL JAVALIN'S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonzoboy Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 It seems to be human nature for people who work in dangerous areas or who have dangerous jobs to take a casual,cavalier attitude to their actions and conditions.After years of working with machinery that could turn on you and harm or kill you in the blink of an eye,I've learned to never turn my back on anything that could be potentially dangerous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 Why do you have to make everything political? That's what I do, that's all you need to be a politician nowadays, disagree with what the other guy is saying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CowboyBillyBob1 Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 I feel most sorry for the boy who did nothing wrong but will carry this with him for the rest of his life. Safty rules are there for a reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stein Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 So how far was the throw? Did he win? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaleb Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 That's what I do, that's all you need to be a politician nowadays, disagree with what the other guy is saying. Yes.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrosurfer1959 Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 I think this proves emphatically why there isn't a sport for javelin catching! I feel sorry for the kid hopefully guilt doesn't stop him from doing something he loves. The guy that got stuck had probably been doing that for decades but didn't take into account the weaknesses of a old body. Strange really usually the really stupid things like this are done by kids that still think there invincible I saw three kids the other day in a large grass retention basin doing something I couldn't figure out what it was at first but they had a archery bow and were shooting it straight up and watching the arrows comes down and see how close it came. Figured that might end badly but one of their mothers saw it and she put a end to there stupid game almost as fast as an arrow would have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.