2012 London Olympics: Don’t blink or you’ll miss the speeding objects

At the London Games, a radar gun might be more valuable than a program in enjoying how fast things are traveling.

11. Shot put

Robert Galbraith/REUTERS
U.S. women's shot putter Jillian Camarena-Williams throws the shot during her win in the women's shot put finals at the U.S. Olympic athletics trials in Eugene, Oregon June 29.

37 m.p.h.

OK, this may sound pretty slow, but there’s no shame in bringing up the rear of the Olympic speed parade. Not when men are heaving a 16 lb. ball and women a nearly 9 lb. ball made of iron or brass from within a circle just seven feet in diameter. The top shot putters explode across the circle and push the ball to distances of nearly 70 feet.

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