Third time the charm for Nelson?

When you get the chance, watch Adam Nelson at work. Not the work he’s doing for his MBA at the Darden School at UVa, but his more recognizable guise as one of the world’s best shot putters. Take a minute to view the numerous YouTube tributes dedicated to his animated pre-throw routine.

Now consider the effects of Nelson’s signature intensity, which has made him one of the biggest stars in a niche sport. While part of his popularity comes from his willingness to do seemingly anything to his body — this is, after all, a man who shaved lightning bolts into his beard before appearing on international television for the 2000 Olympics — it also reflects on the delicate mental balance required for his event.

Nelson, 33, will make his third trip to the Olympics this month in Beijing with two silver medals to show for his previous attempts. He finished second to Finland’s Arsi Harju in Sydney in 2000 after winning the U.S. Olympic trials on his final throw, then came agonizingly close at the 2004 Games in Athens — and his mental state was just slightly off-kilter each time.

“In 2000, I was pretty happy to be there,” he said. “In the trials, I went from being an unknown to an overnight favorite for the Olympics. I didn’t really know how to cope with that.

“I was really fired up about being on the team and went to Sydney and enjoyed all the aspects of the Olympic competition and the Olympic festival as well. I was just happy to be there — probably more of an Olympic tourist — and probably didn’t deserve as high a finish as I actually got.”

An accidental star

Even Nelson’s first appearance in the shot put circle at the Lovett School in Atlanta came as a surprise. Football and wrestling were his main sports in high school, and he only took up track and field after being cut from the baseball team — as he puts it, “I can swing a bat, I just couldn’t hit a ball.”

He did well enough to draw looks for each sport from major colleges, but settled on the Ivy League — specifically Dartmouth College, which allowed him to play football and continue his shot put career. He was a runaway success on the track at Dartmouth, winning the 1997 NCAA outdoor championship and finishing second at the 1998 indoor meet. But it took some encouragement from the Big Green’s head field events coach, Carl Wallin, to convince Nelson that he had the goods to succeed on a bigger stage.

“The last time he sat me down was my senior year,” Nelson said. “He said, ‘Adam, it’s 1997 and there’s three years until the 2000 Olympics. I really think you should do this.’

“We talked about it for a few minutes and it was at that point that I realized that this guy, who’s been around throwing for 40 years at the time, really believes in me. He’s not just paying me lip service. When you have someone who believes in you that much, it’s very empowering.”

Nelson finished second in Sydney and also caught the eye of a young Lovett graduate, Laci Braswell, who he would marry in 2005 — despite not quite looking his best for his first impression. At the time, Nelson was sporting that unusual beard, which he dubbed “the Nelder” with former training partner Brad Snyder.

“He had gained 40 pounds in the Olympic Village, so he was fat and he had this beard,” Laci said. “Little did I know.”

He added two more silver medals at the 2001 and 2003 World Championships before returning to Olympic competition in Athens, where he once again struggled with his competitive mindset.

“It was a weird thing,” he said. “It wasn’t that I wasn’t training hard — I just didn’t want to be there. I’d been focusing on training for so long that I just wasn’t getting a whole lot of gratification out of it or satisfaction out of it. I didn’t really want to be out there.

“The Olympics came around, and I was a good enough shot putter that I could go out there and make the Olympic team and do very well at the Olympics, but I didn’t put the right effort into it mentally, physically and emotionally over the course of the year.”

Even that effort was good enough for Nelson to lead for most of the competition. Ukraine’s Yuriy Bilonoh matched him at 69 feet, 5 1/4 inches with his final throw, but Nelson had one last chance to win. He came up with what appeared to be the winning toss, but was called for his fifth foul of the finals for stepping out of the ring. Bilonoh was awarded the gold medal because his next-best throw was better than Nelson’s.

One more shot at gold

There was plenty of off-track upheaval — positive and negative — to distract Nelson that year. He got married several months before the Olympics and lost his sponsorship with Nike after the Games.

Many athletes would crumble at the prospect of losing their financial backing, but Nelson wound up rediscovering his love of competition.

He took the odd step of selling his sponsorship on eBay — he wound up with MedivoxRX Technologies, advertising a talking medicine bottle for the blind — and finally got his long-awaited gold medal at the World Championships in Helsinki.

“I think it was probably the most satisfying year of my whole career,” he said. “I fought for every penny I got and earned every penny I got by physically competing, and it was awesome. What I realized is that if you do this sport for the wrong reasons, you’re going to be perpetually dissatisfied because the numbers aren’t big enough.”

Nelson won silver again at the 2007 World Championships and had to struggle just to earn a spot in Beijing. The foul troubles that cost him gold in Athens cropped up again at the Olympic trials in Eugene, Ore., in June, but his fourth throw (out of six) moved him into second place. He finished third — good enough to get one more shot at Olympic glory.

Just as he always does, Nelson prepared for each throw in Eugene by strutting up to the pit, yelling to the fans and theatrically ripping off his T-shirt. That routine has made him a crowd favorite, but has led to some nervous moments for his handlers.

“Adam just goes so much within himself when he competes that he doesn’t really look to the coach at that point,” said Carrie Lane, his coach and a fellow assistant on the UVa track team. “The coach’s work is done. There are other athletes who will come and get advice from their coach after every round. Adam’s not that kind of guy — he kind of gets into his own rhythm, and any outside influence will throw him off. He doesn’t really ask for help.”

Life after the Olympics

Aside from the sponsorship blip in 2005, Nelson hasn’t needed much assistance in any aspect of his busy life. He has seven classes left at Darden and has juggled his MBA studies and his work with UVa’s throwers. He’s done some television reporting with the Charlottesville Newsplex, owned by one-time sponsor Gray Television, and he and Laci are expecting their first child — a daughter — in September.

As one of the most experienced members of the U.S. track contingent in Beijing, Nelson knows his chances at Olympic gold are dwindling. He hasn’t yet settled on his post-Olympic plans — that decision depends heavily on his performance this month — but he will always stay close to his surprise sport and the 16-pound ball that has taken him around the world.

“It’s been a real pleasure doing what I do for the last 10 years and being able to make a living at it,” he said. “I mean, I throw a steel ball. What the hell is that? There are so many more people that deserve so much more than what we get for what we do. So I’ve been very fortunate to do this.

“Because of that, I will probably always maintain a relationship with track and field. I will always support it, but when it’s over, when I’m done, I’m going to have to take a few years to get away from it, disassociate myself with athletics in general to find who I’m going to be post-athletics. But I will always maintain a lifelong commitment to supporting track and field.”