Randy Barnes

Eric Randolph "Randy" Barnes (born June 16, 1966) is an American former shot putter who holds both the current outdoor and indoor world records for the event. He won silver at the 1988 Olympics and gold at the 1996 Olympics. As of 2015, both of Barnes's records still stand. Only one thrower has been within 60 cm (2 feet) of the outdoor record in the last 10 years.

Biography

Barnes was born in Charleston, West Virginia, grew up in nearby St. Albans, and began throwing shot put in high school. In 1985, he threw an impressive 66' 9.5" (20.36 m) with the prep shot of 12 lb (5.44 kg). After graduating from St. Albans High School in 1985, he attended Texas A&M University where he broke school records (set by Randy Matson) with a throw of 21.88 m (71 ft 9.5 in) with the 7.26 kg (16 lb) full size shot. While at A&M, Randy worked with hall of famer conditioning coach Istvan Javorek.

He went to the 1988 Seoul Olympics where he threw 22.39 m (73 ft 5.5 in) and earned a silver medal at only 22. He came second to Ulf Timmermann of East Germany, who threw 22.47 m. On January 20, 1989, he set a new indoor world record at the Sunkist Invitational in Los Angeles with a throw of 22.66 m (74 ft 4.25 in), which was better than his outdoor personal best at the time.