[ad_1]
Breadcrumb Trail Links
The gold medalist was big into basketball as a Nanaimo high school student and his former hoops coach says he ‘was a force on the court, mostly in the key with dunks’
Get the latest from Steve Ewen straight to your inbox
Published Aug 05, 2024 • Last updated 10 hours ago • 4 minute read
You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.
Ethan Katzberg reacts during the Men’s Hammer Throw Final on Sunday. Photo by Christian Petersen /Getty Images
Article content
The 2020 B.C. high school boys basketball provincial championship souvenir program has become a bit more of a collector’s item thanks to Ethan Katzberg’s success at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Advertisement 2
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
- Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events.
- Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account.
- The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.
- Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword.
- Support local journalism.
SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
- Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events.
- Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account.
- The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.
- Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword.
- Support local journalism.
REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
- Access articles from across Canada with one account.
- Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.
- Enjoy additional articles per month.
- Get email updates from your favourite authors.
Sign In or Create an Account
or
Article content
There’s Katzberg on Page 117, a 6-foot-5 Grade 12 centre smack dab in the middle of a team photo with the John Barsby Bulldogs. The Nanaimo squad were the No. 12 seeds for the 16-team Triple A tournament, and they would wind up splitting their four games there.
Katzberg, 22, won the gold medal in the men’s hammer throw Sunday in France, adding to a track and field trophy case that already had first-place honours from last year’s world championships in Budapest and Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile.
Basketball was his first sporting love. He was even joking to reporters on Sunday that “I was a skinny basketball player,” when asked to go over his history.
“He was a force on the court, mostly in the key with dunks and both left and right (handed) finishes,” recalled John Barsby hoops coach Rick Hart.
Advertisement 3
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
The coach’s son, Ethan Hart, was a Grade 12 guard on that Bulldogs squad. He’s remained close with Katzberg. He was part of his supporter’s group at a packed Stade de France on Sunday.
“He’s an absolute gem of a person,” Rick Hart said of Katzberg. “His family is super involved and supportive.
“I am so happy for him and his family.”
Canucks Report
Thanks for signing up!
Article content
Advertisement 4
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Katzberg followed sister Jessica, who is two years older, into the hammer throw and their dad Bernie was their first coach. Dan Marshall penned a story for the Nanaimo News Now in August 2017 about the siblings going on to represent B.C. at the national youth track and field championships in Brandon.
“Everyone expects to win and hopes to win and that’s my goal. I’m just going to try to do my best,” a 15-year-old Ethan says in that story.
Katzberg is coached now by Dylan Armstrong, 43, the Kamloops native who won a bronze medal in the shot put at the Beijing 2008 Olympics and a silver medal at the 2011 world championships in Daegu, South Korea.
Armstrong was a high school star at Westsyde, and one so good at the hammer throw then that they had to change venues for the 1999 Okanagan championship because the field at Dr. Knox Middle School was too small.
Advertisement 5
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
READ MORE: Ethan Katzberg’s gold medal a product of B.C.’s commitment to hammer throw
He had competed there the year before in the hammer and one of his tosses went so far that it bounced off a school wall.
“It’s a safety issue,” Derek Evely, who was Armstrong’s coach then, said at the time.
Evely recently signed on to coach throws for Laurier Primeau’s UBC Thunderbirds track and field program, following stints as the sports science manager for the Canadian Athletics Coaching Centre in Edmonton and the director of high performance at the United Kingdom’s High Performance Centre located in Loughborough, England.
He knew that “Dylan would become a great coach because his eye for technique and talent has always been incredible.”
Advertisement 6
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
“But what blows me away with what he has done with Katzberg is how he understands the subtleties and nuances in elite training application,” Evely continued. “Believe me when I tell you that very, very few coaches have that ability. Dylan has it in spades. It’s one of the great honours of my coaching career to be a close witness to that.”
Evely also praised Garrett Collier, who has coached Rowan Hamilton, 24, and Camryn Rogers, 25, as they have come through the ranks. Chilliwack native Hamilton came in ninth in the men’s hammer on Sunday, while Richmond’s Rogers qualified for Tuesday’s women’s hammer finale in Paris and is looking to add to the world championship she won last year.
“He shouldn’t be overlooked. He laid the foundation for Hamilton and Rogers,” Evely said of Collier.
Advertisement 7
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Hammer History Lesson✍️🔨
1972: Anatoliy Bondarchuk (Dr B.) wins Olympic 🥇 in Hammer
2008: Dylan Armstrong🇨🇦 (coached by Dr. B) wins Olympic 🥉 in Shot
2024: Ethan Katzberg🇨🇦 (coached by Armstrong) wins 🥇 in Hammer pic.twitter.com/NPchiFfyl0
— Beau Throws (@beau_throws) August 4, 2024
Advertisement 8
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Primeau says that B.C. has benefited from top-flight throws coaches over the years. There has been the likes of Armstrong, Evely and Collier. There has been Harold Willers, the longtime throws coach with the Valley Royals who worked with Hamilton. There’s Dr. Anatoliy Bondarchuk, who mentored both Evely and Armstrong and remains listed as a coach with the Kamloops Track and Field club.
Primeau believes the hammer throw is built for something like the RBC Training Ground, which tests participants on speed, strength, power and endurance capabilities and then suggests a sport where there is potential for success. There is no one consistent body type with the hammer throw, he points out. You see short, squat powerhouses. You see longer, leaner competitors, like a Katzberg, who is a 6-foot-6, 236 pounds and, in the words of Armstrong to reporters in Paris, “is hammer strong. … He has stretchy muscles that work for him.”
“It’s all about release velocity. You can achieve that in more than one way,” Primeau said.
Katzberg won Sunday with a toss of 84.12 metres. Silver medallist Bench Halasz, 27, of Hungary was 4.15 meters back, with a best of 79.97. Ninth place Hamilton was only 3.38 metres behind Halasz, with a 76.59.
The world record is 86.74, set by Yuriy Sedykh of the Soviet Union in 1986.
sewen@postmedia.com
Recommended from Editorial
-
How B.C. grew to punch above its weight in sports and at the Olympics
-
Ethan Katzberg’s gold medal a product of B.C.’s commitment to hammer throw
Article content
Share this article in your social network
[ad_2]
Source link
Fitnessnacks – #B.C #hammer #throw #gold #medallist #Ethan #Katzberg #gem #person
Courtesy : https://theprovince.com/sports/olympics-hammer-throw-gold-medal-bc-ethan-katzberg