Name Kate Schmidt | Role Olympian | |
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Olympic medals Athletics at the 1976 Summer Olympics - Women's Javelin Throw People also search for Ruth Fuchs, Jacqueline Todten, Marion Becker | ||
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), 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. Schmidt is also an abstract artist with works on display with the Art of the Olympians (AOTO) organization.