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Chapter 1 – The 2012 Olympics
On October 17, 2010, magic returned to the world. But the world didn’t noticeuntil 2012.It was the climax of the XXX Olympiad in London. August 7
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, at the OlympicStadium in Stratford, thousands crowded the stands for the 100-meter dash. Since this isone of the only events that people care about, with the winner crowded, ‘The World’sFastest Man,’ millions watched on live television around the world. And it couldn’t have been a better day – clear skies, little wind, and the buzz of anticipation. Now, most people remember this day as the 100-meter finals, but really, it was just the 4
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preliminary heat.Still, it was one hell of a field. There was the previous champ from Jamaica, thefavorite from the US, and a bunch of other guys so ripped that everyone I know swearsthey were all juiced. But as they moved to the starting line, no one cared. We justwanted to see people race. And really, if they’re all doing it, who gives a damn?Certainly not the crowd, as they chanted and screamed.The calls got louder when the starter called out the start. “Gentlemen, on your mark.” Then the tone sounded, telling them to get ready. And bang, they were off.Unfortunately, the alarm immediately sounded. False start. It was some guy fromParaguay who ended up finishing last anyway. Thanks to him, everyone turned aroundand walked back to the blocks.Again, the runners took their mark. Crouched on all fours, they rose up as thetone sounded, ready to shoot out like a bolt. But, as before, the alarm sounded. This
 
confused the athletes since the gun hadn’t gone off. This also agitated the crowd, fillingthe air with boos.The runner meandered around for a moment, wondering why their race hadstopped. That’s when someone noticed a ball on the track. An official ran out to move itaway.Except it wasn’t a ball. It was a shotput.ball, I think it’s just called a shot. Therunners looked down at the shot, then turned to glare at whoever just interfered with their race.That athlete was Kazimir Pavelec, an eastern-bloc holdover from the CzechRepublic. He wasn’t hard to spot, especially while standing in the shotput circle. Heshould have looked embarrassed being that he was just practicing – the competition wasafter the 100-meter race. However, he gazed out at his shot with his mouth hanging wideopen. This was because he was standing on the wrong side of the stadium. Now, the world record at the time was 75 feet 10 inches. Kazimir stood on thesouth side of the stadium. The runners stood on the north side, over 400 feet away. Noone in the world should have been able to do that with a 16-pound lump of iron. But thatdidn’t change the fact that he somehow threw the shot across the stadium. Once peoplerealized where the shot came from, they stared at him in awe.Being the Olympics, it didn’t take the reporters long to find a video of the throwand replay it on the jumbotron. Nothing seemed unusual. If anything, Kazimir wastaking it easy. Yet the ball soared across the entire stadium, flying and bouncing like a baseball.
 
Official conferred for a few minutes. Then they led Kazimir to the back for adrug test. He came back clean, but this didn’t do much to erase suspicions. More doubtwas raised when Kazimir could not repeat that throw. In fact, his best throws didn’t evenearn him a top five finish in the event. If it wasn’t for the 400 foot super-throw, he wouldhave just been a glorified tourist.Sportstalk treated this like big news for a few weeks, but eventually, peoplefigured that he just had some crazy ex-East German sports scientist make him a crazy,undetectable steroid, and their attention turned to other things. Still, the mention of shotput in sports bars still gets someone talking about this magic throw. Now, years later, I know how he did it, even if he didn’t. See, he wasn’t throwingthe shot harder. That’s why even with all his effort, he didn’t come close to matchingthat throw ever again. What he did was temporarily make the ball lighter. So, sure, hecould sail that thing across the stadium without any trouble. The spell wore off by thetime officials got to it, but if it were still active, they’d have found a big steel ball theweight of a baseball.And, you know, it’s not even that complicated of a spell, at least for me. Butmaybe I’m not a good yardstick for this. I think he can do that spell nowadays any timehe wants, but so can a lot of people.Still, that day in August of 2012 was when the world had their first glimpse of magic. It wouldn’t be long before they had all they could handle.
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