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From the Gallery: Putting the Shot The Shot Put is one of several Track and Field events in which both men and women will compete at the Pan Am and Parapan Games in Toronto this summer. With curling, it shares Scottish roots and was a favourite at the court of King Henry VII. By the 19th century, after shot put was well established among British soldiers with spare time on their hands, the first amateur competitions were held in the UK. In this 1876 sketch by Henri Julien in the Gallery on the Fort York website, reservists from Collingwood or St. Catharines training at Fort York have shed their jackets to toss some 18-pound shot. Also found at the fort then were 32-pound cannonballs, but they would have been too heavy for throwing. Today in competition, men’s shot weighs 16 pounds, women’s 8.8 pounds.
Militia soldiers of the 1870’s take a break from drills to throw cannon balls, i.e. “putting the shot.” Henri Julien (1852–1908), Canadian Illustrated News, City of Toronto Museum Collections, 1971-42-241
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