Kara Winger
Olympic Hopeful for Tokyo 2020
Track & Field - Javelin Throw
In Olympic City USA, dedication counts. Setting goals and working hard to reach them is crucial to making dreams reality. Kara Winger, the American record holder for the javelin throw, is living proof that dedication will take you far. Winger recently won a gold medal at the Pan-American Games, and placed fifth at the World Championships. We asked Kara to share her unique insight on the importance of dedication and how living here in Olympic City USA inspires her to be her best.
Q: How does your work ethic and dedication in javelin throw inform other parts of your life?
A: Any Olympic athlete in a niche event like javelin will tell you that the hustle is real! In the past two years, I’ve completely changed my coaching and training structure. While I’ve always trusted my work ethic and dedication to the javelin throw, I learned through these transitions how to trust all of myself. I work somewhat piecemeal in a lot of different ways in town. I’ve always said that javelin is the only clear path I’ve ever seen, but through some hardship I’ve learned to apply the grit I have developed in sport to improving my speaking skills, figuring out small business incorporation and selling some of the training I’ve written, planning adventurous and cheap vacations with dear friends, renovating homes with my husband, and even remembering how to play the piano, amongst so many other fun things.
Q: What is it like to live and train in the Olympic and Paralympic Training Center (OPTC)?
A: The Olympic and Paralympic Training Center makes the really difficult and sometimes-mundane parts of my training inspiring and exciting! Being surrounded by some of the best athletes in the country every day makes me want to rise to the top. We all push each other just by showing up, even across very diverse sports.
When Russ [Winger, Track and Field athlete] and I moved here at the end of 2012, I was healing from an ACL reconstruction surgery, and he was excited to get back to his hometown and continue training for the shotput and discus. Living on-site helped us both in the transition to life in Colorado and was essential for my recovery process! I could get to the sports medicine facility for appointments in five minutes, and do absolutely everything I needed to return to sport at the highest level. We bought our house in Briargate a few months after he proposed in 2013, and renovated it ourselves all of 2014 while planning our wedding at the same time and still living at the OPTC! I will always think so fondly of our two years living separately but together on campus before our married life started.
A strong theme in my career has been great recovery from fairly major injuries, and the OPTC sports medicine staff has been so integral in that. Our fantastic, skilled athletic trainers and therapists are a serious key to my success on the javelin runway. Wonderful people, coupled with fabulous facilities, makes life at the Training Center great.
Q: What is the most challenging part of training in this environment?
A: As a javelin thrower, I rely more on power than endurance to be great. I like to say that training in Colorado is an exercise in believing in myself. Most people expect that the javelin will go further at high altitudes, like a golf ball or a football, but actually, the opposite is true. My implement is just heavy enough (1.2 pounds) that it needs the support of normal-thickness air! So not only do I feel more worn-down than I might at sea level but my javelin just typically isn’t going to fly as far. I truly believe that this fact means Dana and I can focus solely on perfecting technique, being mentally strong, and trusting that the work we’re putting in is going to pay off at the biggest meets! So far, that has been true. And I bet it will stay that way as long as we’re a team. It’s very fun for me to take training trips elsewhere and see the results of all of our altitude training!
Q: What was the first sport you were involved in as a kid? Tell us about what you took away from those initial athletic experiences.
A: Tee-ball was my first sport! I HAD to be on my hero, my big brother’s team. The first sport I really remember playing was soccer in Hawaii, where we briefly lived for my Dad’s work in heavy construction. We moved a lot growing up, and I found that sports were my way to make friends in all the new places we ended up! I thought every sport I tried was fun, I loved feeling like I was part of something bigger than myself, and I eventually found something I couldn’t stop thinking about in the javelin. But soccer, softball, volleyball, basketball, swimming, and the teammates I gathered through all of them prepared me to follow that passion!
Q: Tell us what the biggest obstacle to reaching an elite level of competition is.
A: One of my biggest obstacles has been mental toughness. I do think that there’s some component of luck to every elite athlete’s journey, whether they want to admit that or not. A lot of people will say that mental toughness is what creates luck. I struggled to perform at big meets for most of my career. Knowing that I’m doing absolutely everything I can in the way that’s best for me, means I’m at my best more often these days. Having a strong mental game looks a little bit different for everybody. For me, it comes down to knowing exactly who is in my corner, meditating a bit (I started going to Levity Float Spa in town last summer!), and trusting all of the work I’ve put in throughout the year. It can take so much practice to believe in yourself when it really matters.
Read Part 2 of Brandon Laney's interview with Colorado Springs athlete Kara Winger HERE.
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