Thrower Of The Week: Zoltan Kovago

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Zoltan Kovago produced a new world lead of 69.50m at the Budapest GP 2011. His lifetime best is 69.95m since 2006. Zoltan Kovago´s season´s best so far was 65.26m.

The previous world leader was Robert Harting with 68.99m.

He was born in Szolnok and during his early childhood he became interested in athletics, where his unmatched talent was soon  discovered. In 1998 he won the World Junior Championships in France and four years later he qualified for the finals among the adults in the European Championships in Munich.

When winning the silver medal in the Athens Olympic Games in 2004, his career became a success. In 2005 he qualified for the finals in the World Championships and in 2006 he threw his best mark to date, putting him 2nd in the Hungarian all time rankings. He was in an excellent condition before the Göteborg European Championships when he had a motorbike accident (caused by a drunken driver) and suffered permanent injuries on his throwing hand. As a result of the accident he was not able to grasp any objects for months and he was not capable of doing any training so that his entire career was in jeopardy.

In the following year he continued doing his work and qualified for the finals in the World Championships again, even though his palm was not the same as before. By qualifying for the final and coming in 6th in the Berlin World Championships in 2009, Zoltán established a spring board for 2010. During the season opening Diamond League event in Shanghai he won with his last throw at 69.69m. Up until the very last event he had a chance to win the Diamond League standings, before the world champion silver medalist, Robert Malachowski (POL) surpassed him.

Period: 26-31 July 2011

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