by Alfonz Juck
Thomas Röhler, photo from Thomas-Roehler.de
RunBlogRun opines: Thomas Röhler is one of those athletes that makes me happy that I write about athletics. A talented athlete, Thomas is hard working, competitive, and loves his event. In Doha 2017, I spent some time with him and several of the German javelin throwers. The javelin is one of the oldest events in athletics. The following of the event is connecting with the sporting traditions of the ancient Greeks.
I was influenced by watching Miklos Nemeth, the great Hungarian, destroy the WR in Montreal in 1976. The look on Miklos’s face, when he destroyed the WR and finally lived up to the pressure put on him by the sport and his country’s fans, (his father, Imre, was Olympic hammer champion in 1948) is amazing. His leap after his winning throw (his first) is also emotional. The look of satisfaction on his face still emotes a reaction from me.
In Doha, I watched Thomas Röhler throw a world leading 93.90m in 2017. In 2018, Thomas threw 91.78m in Doha. Thomas liked the training in the warm weather, and he and his coach enjoyed the early season competition.
Oh, how it will differ in 2020.
JENA (GER): Germany’s 2016 Olympic javelin champion Thomas Rohler is working out how to move ahead with his training in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Rohler – an Ambassador of European Athletics Green Inspiration Partner Mondo – is more than happy to be back home in Jena for the moment after nearly getting stranded in Turkey last weekend, where he had been warm weather training for two weeks during the first half of March with the German national squad in the Mediterranean town of Belek. “But I am happy to be back home, to come back to my family and to an environment I’m familiar with. What can we expect here now? We must not close our eyes to reality, and I think we athletes will have to be prepared for further restrictions.” From European Athletics.
Thomas Roehler, photo by Thomas-Roehler.de
