Olympics 2024: A shot putter’s recipe for success, no pizza, less pasta

When Leonardo Fabbri went and analyzed what went wrong with his performance at the Tokyo Olympics — where the Italian shot putter missed qualifying for the final by 10 centimeters — he didn’t focus on his bout with COVID-19 or his various injuries that year. Or even his technique.

The answer came when he looked in the mirror. Weighing in at 150 kilograms, Fabbri realised that his biggest problem was his waistline.That’s when he decided to drastically change his diet, cutting out pizza entirely — no small sacrifice for an Italian — and limiting his pasta intake. He lost 25 kgs over two years, earned the silver medal at last year’s world championships, gold at the European championships in June and now has desig ns on challenging Americans Ryan Crouser and Joe Kovacs at the Paris Games when the men’s shot put competition starts on Friday. “It’s not easy. I’m trying to eat only vegetables,” Fabbri said. “But when you see the results, you do it more willingly.”

World-record holder Crouser and Kovacs have dominated the shot put for nearly a decade, finishing 1-2 at the past two Olympics. But Fabbri beat Crouser in the final Diamond League meet before the Paris Olympics and has the second-longest mark in the world this year at 22.95 meters.

BUDDHISM AND MEDITATION

Fabbri reads books about Buddhism and meditates every morning during competitions. “They’re things that w e r e introduced to me by m y mental coach,” he said. Fabbri’s athletics coach, Paolo Dal Soglio, finished fourth in the shot put at the 1996 Atlanta Games — missing out on a medal by a centimeter. “I want to win a medal for Paolo, too,” Fabbri said.