I'm back from vacation. Take a look at a couple of pieces I recently did for Slate. This one is on the track surface used at the Athens games. Made by the Italian company Mondo, it's pretty cool synthetic syrface.

Another piece I wrote is on the evolution of techniques in the "heavy" athletics -- shot put, javelin, discus and hammer. There was a lot of history I unearthed that didn't make the final cut. (For example, discus was originally a competition in which men threw their shields for distance; hammer throw started out as burly men throwing chariot wheels for distance... after a while they just threw the wheel hub with a spoke attached as the handle.)

I had a blast researching and reporting these pieces. Let me know your thoughts and what you'd like to see more of in the future.