Lawrence Okoye sets a new British Discus record
Lawrence Okoye set a new British Discus record with a throw of 71.88m at the Ramona Throws Series World Invitational in Oklahoma at the age of 34. He has had an interesting career. He took part in the 2012 Olympics at the age of 20. He recalled the experience years later: “The qualifying round was a bit of a roller coaster. I had a bit of a torrid time initially, and I was able to pull it out in the last round, which was a big moment for me. I remember the final being very disappointing. Obviously, I was 20 at the time and not very experienced, and wasn’t quite able to get a good throw in the first three rounds, which is the unforgiving part of the sport. You know, you’ve got to get a throw-in quickly. But my overall impression of London 2012 was as an unbelievable occasion. The fans and the country were really behind us and it. Was just probably one of the best sporting events we’ve ever had in the UK in terms of how well it was received and how well the athletes performed, so it was just a great thing to be part of”.
Then he turned his back on track and field to give the NFL a go. “That had always been an ambition of mine, something I wanted to do, and it was an opportunity to do it. And I always knew that I’d be able to come back to discus, and I did. So, you know, I was proven right in that regard. So, yeah, that’s something I just wanted to do”.
He did not quite make it in the NFL, but he enjoyed the experience. In one else it was a strange move as he had never played the game at all! He initially signed with the San Francisco 49ers and spent 2 years on the practice squad. He then had contracts with the Arizona Cardinals, New York Jets, Dallas Cowboys, Chicago Bears, and the Miami Dolphins, followed by the Montreal Alouettes and Birmingham Iron. While he did not play much, he certainly saw a lot of the country!
His reflection on those six years (2013-19) was: “I did enjoy it very much. The problem with that sport, though, is that you don’t really have control. You know you can control your performance, but you can’t control decisions that are made about you. Whereas in individual sports you’re obviously in complete control, there are pros and cons to both, but I learned more about being a pro. I learned about, you know, different cultures and different sporting cultures. I learned a lot about myself. I learned a lot about adversity, about success. That was what from the age of 20 to 27. So those were the formative years of my adulthood. So it was a it was an important time for me. I learned a lot about that from that experience, and it has helped me in the discus as well, just coming back about being disciplined and you know, and how to train and all that kind of good stuff. I took everything year by year. I didn’t make any long-term plans because sport is very day-to-day. You never know what’s going to happen around the corner, so I didn’t make any long-term plans. I was very focused on doing my best day to day. And I let the chips fall where they fell.
He returned to the discus in 2019. His most successful season was 2022, when he was third in the European Championships (67.14m) and second in the Commonwealth Games. He’d had a good 2021 season with a best of 66.89m, which would have been enough for fifth place in the Tokyo Olympics, except that he was not in the Tokyo Olympic final, having registered no mark in the qualifying. Because of the humidity, he struggled to keep his hands dry and failed to get a good grip of the discus.
He described winning a medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games as “an awesome experience,” adding, “It really helped me just because I was so disappointed after Oregon. And I had a foul in the first qualifying round and a bad throw in the first round of the final. So I actually wasn’t in a good position in but I was able to put it out in the second round through both the final and qualifying. So I was actually really happy about that, which showed a little bit of mental fortitude. And then I was able to get a medal. Actually, probably should have thrown quite a bit further that day. I was just a couple of ticks off. Technically, I could have really had a massive throw that day and really rivaled Denny for the gold.
When I spoke to him, we also discussed his unusual technique: “My technique is pretty unique just because I’m the only male discus thrower that throws feet down as opposed to reversing. Reversing is when you kind of – I don’t want to say jump, but it’s almost like a jump when you finish. It’s like you switch your feet – just for the people that wouldn’t necessarily know. But I’m quite unique in the sense that my feet stay on the ground, when I when I deliver the discus. When I’m in the groove, my throw is quite rhythmic and still very powerful and long. When I’m not in the groove, it can be a bit short and punchy, which is what we’re trying to get away from. The issue is that in discus, you need a ton of tension and power, but you also need to be loose, long, and fluid. So it’s a bit of oxymoron there. Every day when you get into the circle and that’s the challenge. That’s why it takes so long to get good, so all the years I took off for football, I missed out on those opportunities to smooth out that portion of the sport, to get that repetition in that would allow me to have that power, but also that rhythm and the smoothness. So you know what we’re working on every day, and we’re fighting to get it right. And I think that hopefully in the summer when we get to the championships that I’ll be able to get it right on the day”.
Let’s hope that his excellent early-season form is a sign of more to come in 2026
