Kate Schmidt
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| Born | December 29, 1953 (age 71) Long Beach, California, U.S. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Kate Schmidt (born December 29, 1953, in Long Beach, California) is an American former world record holder in the javelin throw. A native of California and a graduate of UCLA, she was a two-time (1972, 1976) Olympian, both times winning a bronze medal. She also made the USA Olympic team in 1980, but the team did not get to compete due to the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott ordered by then President Jimmy Carter. She narrowly missed making a fourth Olympic team in her home town by finishing 4th place in the 1984 Olympic Trials.
From 1972–77, she tallied seven national titles. Schmidt set a new world record of 69.32 m (227 ft 5 in) in Fürth, Germany. Her throw was almost 30 feet longer than the previous American record of 198 feet 8 inches (60.55 m) set by Barbara Friedrich in 1967. Schmidt holds twelve of the top 20 spots of the farthest throws ever by an American. She held the American record until the women's javelin was redesigned in 1999, resetting the records.
She is a member of the USATF National Track and Field Hall of Fame (1994),[1] the National Throws Coaches Hall of Fame, the CSULB Hall of Fame, the LBCC HAll of Fame, and the Woodrow Wilson High School Hall of Fame (Long Beach, CA).
Schmidt owns HomeBodies, a mobile fitness and rehab business, and was the men's and women's throwing coach for Occidental College in Northern Los Angeles for a while.[2] Schmidt is also an abstract artist with works on display with the Art of the Olympians[3] (AOTO) organization.
References
- ^ USATF Hall of Fame
- ^ "Kate Schmidt Occidental College Javelin Coach". Retrieved September 15, 2016.
- ^ "Art of the Olympians – Be the best you can be". artoftheolympians.org. Retrieved 2015-12-23.
External links
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- 1953 births
- Living people
- People from Long Beach, California
- Track and field people from California
- American female javelin throwers
- Former world record holders in athletics (track and field)
- Olympic track and field athletes of the United States
- Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in track and field
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics
- UCLA Bruins women's track and field athletes
- Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics
- Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics
- Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field)
- American track and field athletics Olympic medalist stubs