Warning for mascots, officials: Beware of Harting

DPA/Berlin

The men’s discus final is on the World Championship schedule on that Tuesday, and nothing can be guaranteed if Robert Harting wins gold a third straight time.

The massive German will certainly go through his trademark routine of ripping his shirt into threads, as he did after at his world titles in Berlin 2009 and Daegu 2011, and when winning Olympic gold in London last year.

“Tearing the shirt is my trademark and I am addicted to it. If you see me coming out of the stadium without a shirt you can be assured that I have won,” he recently quipped in London.

But in Berlin he also shouldered the mascot—a bear—in his celebrations, while in London he gave a demonstration of his hurdling skills at the end of his lap of honour—drawing huge cheers on each clearance over the 100m distance from the British crowd as officials tried in vain to stop him.

For reference, the Moscow mascot is a sparrow, and the steeplechase obstacles are set up around the entire track, including a water jump.

To make things worse, Harting’s younger brother Christoph is also on the German discus team, and so is his girlfriend, Julia Fischer, on the women’s side.

The “determined trio” of athletes—as Christoph Harting named them—were training for Moscow at the sports centre in Kienbaum some 35 kilometres south-east from the capital Berlin. “We plan to throw a combined 130 metres in Moscow,” says Robert Harting with a huge smile about the brothers’ ambitions.

Fischer, herself standing 1.92m tall, is a former European under-23 champion. She is mainly seen as the partner of Germany’s 2012 ‘Sportsman of the Year’. “He just happens to be the athletics superstar (in Germany), everyone would be in his shadow,” Fischer says, but also adds that “the athletes’ love story thing is not really for us. We want to be recognised as athletes.”

Harting, 28, has ruled the discus over the past years and went 35 events undefeated from 2010 before he was beaten on June 8 by Piotr Malachowski. The Pole was also previously the last man to win against Harting at the European Championships three years ago.

Harting was not disappointed but somewhat relieved that the talk over the win streak ended and swiftly named Malachowski “sky-high favourite at the Worlds”.

Malachowski may be the best thrower of the year but Harting will have nothing to lose in Russia and is “motivated again to throw far” after the loss. “I am not shouldering a backpack with the burden of being favourite but rockets to give me thrust,” Harting insists.

They may then also ignite him to leap over the steeplechase obstacles on another lap of honour in Moscow—with a sparrow on his back.