ABSTRACT
Discus throwing dates back several hundred years bce to the ancient Greek Olympiad Games, although it was also played for other reasons: non-competitively for recreational purposes, to complement funeral ceremonies, and in other festivals. The ‘diskos’ was one of the original pentathlon events, together with throwing the javelin, running, jumping and wrestling. Pentathlon scoring was a complex affair and varied between Games, but generally, throwing diskoi, together with wrestling, was thought to be one of the ‘heavy’ events. Greater score-weighting was given to these two events – a win in both would usually guarantee victory. Furthermore, a win in the diskos would enable the athlete to gain precedence in the order of participation in the jump event, which would further advantage the athlete.
