Nelson bound for Beijing in shot put

By Chip Knighton

Published: July 14, 2008

Student, coach, reporter, world-class athlete and (soon) father. Adam Nelson has a lot of labels — a lot of balls in the air, so to speak. But right now, the Virginia assistant track coach has only one 16-pound ball on his mind.
Putting his studies at the Darden School of Business on the back burner for the time being, Nelson is focused on his third trip to the Olympics to compete in the shot put. The Atlanta native won silver medals in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics and departs for Beijing on Aug. 3, hoping to settle what he refers to as “unfinished business.”
Unlike most MBAs, Nelson’s business in China will be conducted strictly at a stadium. The rest of the business in his life — notably seven more classes at Darden and a baby daughter due in September — can wait.
“I’m definitely going to be worried about the baby and about my wife,” said Nelson, whose wife, Lacy, will remain in the United States during the Olympics. “But she’s going to have her parents, at least her mom, here. I know she’s only a phone call away.”
Nelson knows plenty about stress after his near-misses in Sydney and Athens, and he wasn’t far from missing out on Beijing at the U.S. Olympic trials on June 28 in Eugene, Ore. He fouled four times, but beat out Dan Taylor by 3 1/2 inches for the third and final Olympic spot, joining Reese Hoffa and Christian Cantwell on the U.S. Team.
“I think you go into those situations believing that you’re going to do it on the first throw,” he said. “The reality is that it doesn’t always go according to plan. When it doesn’t go to plan, you pretty much have two options — you bow down and accept the position that you end up in or you try to fight back. I was definitely doing my best to fight back at trials on a day when I wasn’t really feeling very good.”
Nelson graduated from Dartmouth College, where he played football in addition to his shot put duties. He came to UVa in 2006 and signed on to work with the throwers on the Cavaliers’ track team, but quickly made an impact on the rest of the athletes.
“Distance runners kind of idolize him and talk to him about competing,” said UVa assistant Carrie Lane, who doubles as Nelson’s personal coach. “The throwers get the added benefit of having the eyes of a world champion to coach their technique and talk them through the mental stuff.”
Nelson went out for his first Olympic team on the advice of Carl Wallin, his throwing coach at Dartmouth, but struggled to find the right mindset during his first two trips to the Games. This time around, Nelson thinks he has hit on the golden frame of mind. He’ll leave his full plate behind in Charlottesville — besides leaving Lacy in Charlottesville, he has deferred the usual Darden schedule of corporate interviews until after he graduates in December. Despite the presence of a strong shot put field in Beijing — including Hoffa, Cantwell and 2004 Olympic champion Yuriy Bilonoh — Nelson is confident he can finish what he started in Australia in 2000.
“If I execute at this Olympic games the way I can and should — and will — I don’t believe there’s anybody in the world that can beat me,” he said.