Parry O’Brien competing at the 1956 Olympic Games (© Time & Life / Getty Images)
USA’s Parry O’Brien, the 1952 and 1956 Olympic Shot Put champion and multiple World record holder for the event died last weekend at the age of 75.
Renowned statistician and historian Mel Watman (Athletics International) has kindly given permission for the following obituary to be reproduced by the IAAF -
Parry O’Brien (USA) (b. 28 Jan 1932 Santa Monica, Calif), who was widely regarded as the greatest shot putter of all time, died aged 75 on April 21 while competing in a masters' swim meet in Santa Clarita, California. His wife, Terry, said he had suffered a heart attack.
O'Brien was the most significant individual in the history of shot putting, for it was he who transformed the event by the introduction of the style that bears his name. He developed his variation of the glide technique (facing the back of the circle at the start of the sequence) following the 1951 season. Ridiculed at first, he quickly silenced all criticism by winning the 1952 Olympic title.
One of the few athletes to make the cover of Time magazine, he explained the technique: "It's an application of physics which says that the longer you apply pressure or force to an inanimate object, the farther it will go. My style is geared to allow me to apply force for the longest time before releasing the shot."
For many years this strong and fast man (he ran 10.8 for 100m in 1953) utterly dominated shot putting. Between July 1952 and June 1956 he won 116 consecutive competitions, in the process becoming the first to achieve 18 metres and 60 feet, while later in 1956 he crashed through the 19 metre barrier and retained his Olympic laurels.
Dallas Long relieved him of the World record for two months in 1959 before O'Brien came back with new World marks of 19.26 (not submitted to IAAF for ratification) and 19.30.
In 1960 he took Olympic silver after leading until the penultimate round and placed fourth in 1964. Although unable to reach the distances of Long and Randy Matson, O'Brien continued to be a formidable competitor and in 1966 – aged 34 – he improved his personal best to 19.69.
O'Brien was also a top flight discus thrower, US champion in 1955 and a pb of 60.00 in 1965. Annual progression: 1950 - 16.42, 1951 - 17.00, 1952 - 17.50, 1953 - 18.00, 1954 - 18.54, 1955 - 17.82, 1956 - 19.25, 1958 - 18.87, 1959 - 19.30, 1960 - 19.11, 1961 - 18.67i, 1964 - 19.20, 1966 - 19.69.
In addition to his Olympic achievements O'Brien set the following World records: 18.00 on 9.5.1953, 18.04 on 5.6.1953, 18.42 on 8.5.1954, 18.43 on 21.5.1954, 18.43, 18.44 & 18.54 on 11.6.1954, 18.62 on 5.5.1956, 18.69 on 15.6.1956, 18.97 & 19.06 on 3.9.1956, 19.10 & 19.25 on 1.11.1956, 19.26 on 18.7.1959, 19.30 on 1.8.1959. (Italics - marks not officially ratified by IAAF).
IAAF
