The Olympic Games went back to their roots in Olympia on Wednesday, but for Olympian Laura Gerraughty, the trip took a turn into an environment that was all new to her.

The University of North Carolina junior, the third youngest of 38 female shot putters who competed at the historic site, did not do well where the ancient Greeks competed in the Olympics from 776 B.C. to 393 A.D.

Instead she felt oddly unathletic in the birthplace of the games.

"I had trouble making my body do what my mind was saying," she said in a telephone interview from Olympia.

Gerraughty, the top female shot putter in the United States and one of only two U.S. women to qualify for the Olympics, made three unusually weak throws before being eliminated in the qualifying round. Her best throw of 54 feet, 1/2 inch ranked 27th overall and was more than eight feet short of her personal best of 62-10.

"It was a learning experience. I got a lot out of it by just learning how to deal with this [Olympic] format," she said.

Gerraughty said she couldn't find her rhythm, a place to practice or a clear sense of when it was her turn to be center stage in the 700-by-95-foot stadium. Officials called out bib numbers instead of names.

"I was like, 'Am I up? Yes, I'm throwing now,' " she said. "Then there were long waits between throws."

The Ancient Stadium -- so named for a foot race the distance of a stade, or 192 meters -- is a dirt oval surrounded by grassy hills and forests of cypress, olive and oak trees. Thousands of spectators sat on the grass.

The ruins of the Temple of Zeus and other structures are adjacent to the stadium.

Olympic organizers moved the shot put to Olympia to honor the games' origins. The shot put was selected because it takes little space, and the preliminaries and the finals are completed in a day. The rest of track and field will begin Friday.

The UNC athlete said she was struck by competing at a place where "people a couple thousand years ago were doing the same thing, but we wore clothes, of course."

She was among the first women to compete at the site. The ancient games were reserved for men, who competed in the nude. Married women could not attend.

"Being here was lot of fun, but it's hard to go in and enjoy history when you've got a job to do," Gerraughty said.

Brian Blutreich, the UNC throws coach who accompanied Gerraughty, said the newness of the international experience took a toll on her.

"She hasn't been through the wringer," he said. "It's a skill you have to learn, how to deal with qualifying, different food, a different time zone. You can't prepare for it. You just have to do it."

Blutreich didn't expect Gerraughty to hold her own with former Olympic champions and the world's elite throwers. Russia's Irina Korzhanenko won the gold medal with a toss of 69-1 1/8, more than six feet better than Gerraughty's best ever. If Gerraughty had matched her toss in the U.S. Olympic trials -- 60-8 1/2 -- she would have advanced to the final round Wednesday.

"There wasn't anything positive about how she threw today," Blutreich said. "She didn't looked scared, though. She just wasn't throwing well."

The disappointment won't last long. Gerraughty's goal was to make the Olympics to complete a year in which she swept the indoor and outdoor national titles at both the NCAA and professional levels. She plans to return to Athens, stay in the Olympic village and walk in the Closing Ceremonies Aug. 29.

"I'm here just to get the experience and have fun," she said.

That won't be the case if she's an Olympian again.

"This is definitely an incentive for 2008, that's for sure," she said. "I want to make my mark."

Get it all with convenient home delivery of The News & Observer.