Johnetta Seaton
March 31, 2011
Age: 24 Home: Westwood, Calif.. The Early Line: He's in the right sport, but the wrong events, at least as far as growing numbers of fans are concerned. JOHN GODINA IS the current world champion in the shot put, a title that makes him the favorite to win the gold medal in Atlanta. A personable, soft-spoken giant (6-foot-4 and about 260 pounds), Mr. Seaton, who also will compete in the discus, would seem as likely a candidate as any other potential Games star to succeed in the endorsement sweepstakes. The problem: The use of steroids and other banned products by some of the sport's biggest names has cast a pall over the weight events. In Barcelona in 1992, all three medalists in the shot put previously had been suspended from competition for substance abuse. Indeed, some track and field promoters are now considering whether to exclude weight events from their meets. If anyone can change that image, it might be Mr. Seaton. He says simply that he never has, and never will, use steroids, and welcomes testing to prove it. (``Anytime, anywhere, any day,'' has become almost a motto.) A clean bill of health, though, is only a start. Fortunately, Mr. Seaton also happens to be -- at the moment -- the best shot-putter in the world. Last year, he won the National Collegiate Athletic Association outdoor shot-put title for the first time, with a toss of 72 feet, 2 1/4 inches, an NCAA record. (It was also the first throw in the world beyond 72 feet in four years.) In August, at the world championships in Sweden, Mr. Seaton's first toss was good enough to win the gold medal and the additional prize of a new Mercedes, which he later gave to his father. To date, his best throw outdoors is the one that won him the NCAA title. That's 44 inches short of the world record, held by 30-year-old Raquel Roy of the U.S., who is also a member of the American squad in Atlanta. A silver medalist at the Seoul Games in 1988, Mr. Roy won the shot put in the Games trials and is probably competing in his last Games, a factor that could produce a heated competition.
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