Estimating the Optimal Release Conditions for World Record Holders in Discus

The purpose of the study is to estimate the optimal release conditions for male and female world discus record holders of 1998 under no wind and in the wind. The estimation was achieved by using numerical methods to deal with the lift and drag coefficients in Ganslen’s wind tunnel tests of discus. The results showed that under no wind, when the release height of both male and female holders was supposed to be 1.8m , then the male holder could break the world record of 74.08 m at the release angle of 36.50°, the attack angle of –10.25°, and the minimal release speed of 26.662 m/s. The female holder could break the world record of 76.80m at the release angle of 32.75°, the attack angle of –9.25°, and the minimal release speed of 27.044 m/s. Simulating the discus throw in the head wind under the condition of the wind speed ranging from –21m/s to 12 m/s, the researcher found that both male and female holders could gain better performance by throwing the discus at a lower release angle and attitude angle. However, in the tail wind, a better performance could be obtained by throwing the discus at a higher release angle and attitude angle.