L. Jay Silvester (born August 27, 1937) and participated in college athletics at

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public university, public land grant colleges, land-grant research university with its main campus in Logan, Utah, United States. Founded in 1888 under the Morrill Land-Grant Acts as Utah's federal ...

from 1956 to 1959 is an American retired athlete who mainly competed in the

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field sport in which the participant athlete throws an oblate spheroid weight (object), weight called a discus in an attempt to mark a further distance than other competitors. It is a ...

. In this event he finished in fourth, fifth,

second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

and eighth place at the

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

and

1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

, respectively, and won a bronze medal at the 1975 Pan American Games. During his career, Silvester won five AAU discus titles and set four

world records A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

, two in 1961 (60.56 m and 60.72 m) and two in 1968 (66.54 m and 68.40 m). His personal bests were 70.38 m in the discus (1971, unofficial world record) and 20.01 m in the

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

. Silvester also won the British

AAA Championships The AAA Championships was an annual track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of England. It was the foremost domestic athletics event in the United Kingdom during its lifetime, despite the existence of the offi ...

titles in the discus and shot put events at the 1962 AAA Championships. After retirement, he worked as professor of physical education at

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

. Silvester held the M35 Masters American Records for the Shot Put and Discus Throw, and is the current holder of the M70 Masters American Records for the Discus Throw. Silvester won gold medals for the M45 Discus Throw at the 1983 and 1984 Masters National Outdoor Championships.masters history Jan 28, 202

Retrieved Jan 28, 2023

Personal life

Silvester is a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

, and he was their first member to participate in 4 Olympic Games.

References

External links

* * * 1937 births Living people American male discus throwers Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field People from Tremonton, Utah Sportspeople from Box Elder County, Utah Track and field athletes from Utah World record setters in athletics (track and field) American masters athletes Utah State University alumni Athletes (track and field) at the 1975 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1975 Pan American Games Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States in athletics (track and field) Latter Day Saints from Utah Australian Athletics Championships winners 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-athletics-Olympic-medalist-stub