The 2001 European Winter Throwing Challenge was held on 17 and 18 March at

Stade Charles-Ehrmann Stade Charles-Ehrmann is a multi-use stadium in Nice, France. For sporting events it seats 8,000 spectators. It is sometimes used by the OGC Nice, for practice or friendly matches, and by their reserves team the Eaglets. For large concerts, it is ...

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

, France. It was the first edition of the

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

competition for throwing events organised by the

European Athletics Association The European Athletic Association (more commonly known as European Athletics) is the governing body for athletics in Europe. It is one of the six Area Associations of the world's athletics governing body World Athletics. European Athletics has 51 ...

. A total of 151 athletes from 22 countries entered the competition.European Cup Winter Throwing
. RFEA. Retrieved on 2013-11-16. The idea behind the creation of the challenge was to provide a venue for throwing athletes to compete during the European winter months. Indoor

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

competitions almost unanimously exclude long-distance throwing events. While colder climates are suitable for

cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open coun ...

, most throwing athletes lacked a competitive outdoor venue during this period of the year. As a resolution, the European Athletics Association proposed the hosting of a throwing event to be held each March in the warmer areas of the continent.Ventouillac, Marc (2001)
European Winter Throwing Challenge 2001 Nice / FRA, 17 - 18 March 2001 - A promising start
European Athletics. Retrieved on 2013-11-17. The competition featured men's and women's contests in

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiqui ...

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the ...

and

hammer throw The hammer throw is one of the four throwing events in regular track and field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and javelin. The "hammer" used in this sport is not like any of the tools also called by that name. It consis ...

. Athletes were seeded into "A" and "B" groups in several events due to the number of entries.1st European Winter Throwing Challenge Results
. RFEA. Retrieved on 2013-11-17. In the points tally,

Olga Kuzenkova Olga Sergeyevna Kuzenkova (russian: Ольга Серге́евна Кузенкова; born 4 October 1970 in Smolensk) is a Russian track and field athlete, the first woman to throw the hammer more than 70 meters. She has tested positive for ...

, a Russian hammer thrower, delivered the best individual performance of the tournament, gaining 1164 points with her throw of . Spanish shot putter

Manuel Martínez Gutiérrez Manuel "Manolo" Martínez Gutiérrez (born December 7, 1974) is a retired Spanish shot putter. Nicknamed the "Gentle Giant", his personal best throw outdoors is 21.47 metres and he has an indoor best of 21.26 m. These marks are the ...

produced the best mark in the men's side, earning 1136 points for his throw of . Two

national records National Records was a record label that was started in New York City by Albert Green in 1945 and lasted until early 1951. Big Joe Turner was signed at the beginning and remained until 1947. Billy Eckstine was also a big seller for the label as w ...

were set during the competition, both in the women's hammer throw (an event which had only been added to the Olympic Games programme the previous year).

Lorraine Shaw Lorraine Amanda Shaw (born 2 April 1968) is an English hammer thrower. Athletics career Shaw's personal best throw, and the previous British record, is 68.93 metres, achieved in June 2003 in Loughborough. She competed at four consecutive Common ...

, third place overall, set a British record of and eighth-placed Cecilia Nilsson broke the Swedish record with her throw of . The inaugural edition of the event attracted a high calibre of participants, with ten

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

medallists in attendance. Three medallists in Nice went on to take medals on the global stage at the

2001 World Championships in Athletics The 8th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada between 3 August and 12 August and was the first time the event ...

later that year: women's shot put winner

Vita Pavlysh Viktoriya Anatoliïvna Pavlysh ( uk, Вікторія Анатопіївна Павпиш; born 15 January 1969 in Kharkov, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union) is a former track and field athlete who specialized in the shot put. Pavlysh was stripped o ...

was the world bronze medallist, while Olga Kuzenkova and women's discus winner

Nicoleta Grasu Lenuţa Nicoleta Grasu is a retired Romanian discus thrower. She was born on 11 September 1971 in Secuieni as Nicoleta Grădinaru, but took a new surname when she married fellow discus thrower Costel Grasu. Grasu is best known for winning meda ...

were runner-up in their respective events.

Medal summary

Men

Women

Medal and points table

Participation

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

References

;Results
1st European Winter Throwing Challenge Results
. RFEA. Retrieved on 2013-11-17. {{European Athletics cups European Throwing Cup

European Cup Winter Throwing The European Throwing Cup (until 2016 European Cup Winter Throwing) is an annual continental athletics competition for athletes specialising in the events of discus, javelin and hammer throwing and the shot put. The winter event, organised every ...

International athletics competitions hosted by France

Sport in Nice 21st century in Nice , European Cup Winter Throwing