ATHENS, Greece - Adam Nelson has been struck by his sport before.
Back when he was a shot putter at Dartmouth, he showed up for practice one day just as a freshman girl learning a new rotation let loose with an errant toss that caught Nelson right in the forehead.
"It didn't do a thing," he says. "It didn't make my head snap back. It didn't hurt. It didn't leave a mark. I guess I've always had a hard head."
Shot put will do something to Nelson today, as it moves from its familiar place in sports' shadows to the heart of the Olympics by becoming the signature event of the 2004 Summer Games.
The concept of an Olympic homecoming has been stamped all over the Athens Games. It is on the banners that line city streets, at the center of the local celebration and on hand as a convenient defense for any criticism these Olympics might deserve.
Today it becomes more than a slogan when shot put is contested on the plains of Olympia, 1,611 years after any Olympic event has been held there.
After centuries of serving as an almost sacred destination for Greek families and the place where the Olympic Flame is lit at the start of every torch relay, the birthplace of the Ancient Games becomes a field of play again.
And the simplicity of shot put will be central to that notion of revisiting the past.
As the Olympics themselves become ever unwieldy, requiring multiple venue complexes and infringement into suburbs, shot put remains basic in composition and elemental to the Games' origins.
While athletes in other sports rely increasingly on technical advances - Teflon suits for swimmers and titanium poles for vaulters - shot put has stayed largely the same since the first Olympics were held in 776 BC. All that's needed for a competition is a heavy ball and a place to throw it.
Today, they will have the most unique place utilized for competition in Athens or any Modern Olympic city, a quiet, remote town where the single dirt road and the stone entrance to the original Olympic stadium still remain.
Tickets will be free and only water will be sold at concession stands. Media access is so limited that the United States, with 3,000 reporters here, received two press credentials.
It will be an exercise in history, right down to the most fundamental of Olympic events and the hand-operated scoreboard that will track it.
"I think it's going to be an amazing presence and feeling," said Nelson, one of three American medal contenders. University of Georgia graduate Reese Nelson and John Godina, of Mesa, Ariz., hope to complete a U.S. medal sweep.
"That's THE birthplace of the Olympics and the modern ideals that the Olympics stem from. It's a symbol of the pureness or the Games and I think it's very powerful, very inspirational and significant."
And into that regal setting will walk Nelson - screaming, ripping off his shirt and making a general scene.
Within the sport, Nelson is known as much for his behavior before he throws as his impressive marks afterward.
A former executive with a New York Internet company, he is generally subdued. At the United States Olympic Committee Media Summit in May, he was the only one of 100 athletes present to show up in a suit.
But several times each competition, he looks more like a professional wrestler than a former Ivy Leaguer.
"It's all part of visualization," says Nelson, who lives in Athens and trains at the University of Georgia. "Everybody has their own little routine to get mentally focused for each throw. Sure, it draws the attention of the crowd. But the main reason I do it is more personal than that.
"It's all part of my preparation phase."
The U.S. shot putters started preparing in Olympia earlier this week.
While Nelson and Hoffa trained on the resort island of Crete, Hoffa stayed at the athlete's village and worked out at the American University of Greece, a satellite facility set up by the USOC.
He arrived in Olympia on Monday and was immediately impressed.
"I was kind of in awe of the thing," said Hoffa, who graduated UGA in 2002. "Getting here and seeing the configuration and where they are going to hold the shot. It was amazing.
"It's pretty cool to have this much attention, having the shot isolated allows everyone to actually focus on it."
Today, the U.S. throwers will be focusing on results.
Nelson will try to improve on the silver medal he won in 2000, while Godina will be looking for a third Olympic medal after taking a silver in Atlanta and a bronze in Sydney. Hoffa, a first-time Olympian, comes to Athens off a second-place finish at the 2004 World Indoor Championships.
"I'm in the best shape I've ever been in for a major competition," said Nelson. "I've learned a lot over the last four years. I'll be ready."
"I'm extremely excited," added Hoffa. "Me and Adam are thinking we're going to throw really far."
That would only be fitting after how far their sport will come today to be right at the heart of the Olympics.
Savannah Morning News sports columnist Tim Guidera is covering the Olympics for
Morris News Service.