BEIJING | The silver medal was dangling from Christian Cantwell&#8217;s neck, and he was pretty down about it.</p><p>This was minutes after the shot-put competition ended, minutes after he struggled and stumbled and, finally, valiantly, salvaged a silver medal with a ferocious final throw.</p><p>You could tell by the look on his face that he wasn&#8217;t too happy, though. And if you couldn&#8217;t tell by his face, you could tell by his reaction to the first question.</p><p>&#8220;How do you feel, Christian?&#8221;</p><p>The reaction: Christian Cantwell stuck out his tongue and executed a raspberry.</p><p>Well, he had come for gold. All the Americans had come for gold. The shot put, after all, is America&#8217;s sport. Nine times since 1948, the United States won at least two Olympic medals in the shot put. This time around, the Americans were hoping for all three. The U.S. team featured three guys &#8212; Adam Nelson, Reese Hoffa and Cantwell &#8212; who had all won world championships, either indoor or outdoor. This was supposed to be their party.</p><p>The day turned sour quickly. Nelson, who won silver at the last two Olympics, fouled his first three throws and was eliminated from contention.</p><p>Meanwhile, Hoffa &#8212; the defending world champion &#8212; fouled on his first throw, barely advanced to the final round and then fouled on his final two throws. He bowed out in seventh place.</p><p>&#8220;I just felt out of sync all day,&#8221; he would say. &#8220;I didn&#8217;t feel the ball in my hand that well. It just wasn&#8217;t a good day.&#8221;</p><p>That left Cantwell as America&#8217;s hope. He had his own troubles. He was not fouling like the two others, but he simply could not break through with a great throw. Something was just a little bit off.</p><p>Maybe it was the schedule. His long day began at 4 a.m., and he spent the day moving around, qualifying, resting, practicing, resting, moving again, and like the other Americans he could not get into any rhythm.</p><p>&#8220;I felt it in my gut,&#8221; he said after it ended. &#8220;Something said: &#8216;It&#8217;s yours, baby. Take it!&#8217; But I didn&#8217;t do it.&#8221;</p><p>After five attempts, he was stuck in fifth place. Poland&#8217;s Thomasz Majewski had dominated the competition. He had thrown 70 feet, 7 inches, which is not an especially great throw in historic terms &#8212; Cantwell had beaten that distance at least 10 times since the beginning of 2004. But on this day, for whatever reason, nobody could come close. And the American men were about to walk away from the Olympics without a shot-put medal for the first time since 1976.</p><p>Cantwell had one more chance. He psyched himself for his final throw and heaved the shot 69 feet, 2&#189; inches. It wasn&#8217;t good enough for gold. But it did win silver.</p><p>It was a gutsy performance in the moment when he needed it. In the moments afterward, though, he did not feel that way. He plainly said he did not feel as if he had won silver &#8212; he felt as if he had lost gold.</p><p>&#8220;I did not do my job,&#8221; he said. &#8220;None of the Americans did. &#8230; Right now, I don&#8217;t feel much. I&#8217;m hoping it sets in that I did something.&#8221;</p><p>He looked pretty down. Then something happened. Then somebody asked him how people would feel back in his hometown of Eldon, Mo. And instantly, his face brightened. It was as if he had come out of the fog.</p><p>&#8220;I hope they get a kick out of this,&#8221; he said.</p><p>They did, of course. Eldon is a town of about 5,000 people near the Lake of the Ozarks. It is a sweet town, as you might expect &#8212; apparently the Shady Rest Hotel from Petticoat Junction was based on the old Burris Hotel in Eldon. It&#8217;s also the hometown of a couple of professional wrestlers &#8212; Harley Race from the old school and Trevor Murdoch from the new &#8212; and the pies at the Maple Street Cafe are the best around.