Meet Valarie Allman, Olympic Gold Medallist Discus Thrower Previously Into Jazz And Ballet

Who is Valarie Allman:  United States' record holder in the discus throw Valarie Allman won a gold medal at Tokyo Olympics on Monday with a score of 68.98.

She sealed the gold medal with her first throw and remained at top of the list through the game event. After being announced the winner, the Olympian rejoiced wearing her flag.

She studied at Silver Creek School and then went to the University of Texas. The sport was her big passion and she believes in a solid fitness regime.

Allman, like other discus throwers, spends a lot of time focussing on back exercises. The quality of how the player stands determines how the throw is and as a result the stance and back angle is critical. Allman spends time focussing on her posture, her nutrition and works on her back strength.

The fascinating aspect of this sport is how the technique is more important than strength. Allman works year-round with her coach to ensure her discus throws are angled accurately.

She qualified for the Olympic finals with an opening throw of 66.42 meters, almost 3m further than anyone else. Silver Creek's athlete managed to qualify for the Olympic women's discus finals in her very first attempt in Group B. At 66.42 meters, she not only beat the required qualifying distance of 64 meters, but she upstaged every other female thrower in just one try.

Before the 2020 Olympics even began, Allman was one of the favorites for the event. She qualified for the Olympics just this year. The 26-year-old Stanford graduate won her first gold medal at the Toyota 2019 USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships with a discus throw of 64.34 meters. Since then, she has become one of the top competitors in her game.

Who is Valarie Allman?

Allman has set a world-leading US record of 70.15m in last year, becoming the 25th member of the event’s exclusive 70-meter club. The American record holder in the women’s discus also won the event at the US Olympic Trials last month. The Texas-based athlete has applied her background in dance in the sport which has enabled her to excel in the discus circle.

Allman graduated from Silver Creek High School in 2013 and was already a champion discus thrower. After joining Stanford University she  explored her options in the field. Before taking up the sport though, the athlete was into ballet, jazz, hip-hop, tap and contemporary dance and had been performing competitively from the age of ten. She says dancing was her first love. Upon her high school track coach encouraging Allman to give the sport a crack in her early teens, the former Longmont resident tried the high jump, 200m, and 400m. While she enjoyed the sport, Allman did not settle for athletics and tried her hands at throwing at 14. She was instantly hooked.

Allman began her USA Track and Field tour at the NCAA Championships in 2014, where she finished 21st. Since then, she won two gold, two silver and three bronze medals in a number of different competitions, from the NCAAs and World University Games all the way up to the Olympic Trials. At the event, she set a record in the process. Her qualifying throw of 70.01 meters at the Trials would have been good enough to win any of the last six Olympics. She defeated the silver medalist by 7.38 meters and those marks nearly earned her a new US record, which she herself set in 2019 at 70.15 meters. The previous record of 69.17 meters was held by Gia Lewis-Smallwood and it stood for seven years.

At Tokyo, Allman will be competing for Olympic golden glory. Should she reach for the gold, she would be just the third US woman to achieve the feat behind Lillian Copeland (1932) and Stephanie Brown Trafton (2008).

Feature Image Credit: bocopreps.com

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