Jennifer Joyce (born September 25, 1980) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

hammer throw The hammer throw (HT for short) is one of the four throwing events in regular outdoor track-and-field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and Javelin throw, javelin. The hammer used in this sport is not like any of the tools a ...

er. While growing up outside of Vancouver, Joyce excelled in multiple sports as a child. In addition to athletics, she participated in soccer and volleyball, earning a spot on the British Columbia soccer provincial team in 1994. However, her greatest success came in hammer throw, in which she won three national junior titles from 1997 to 1999. As a freshman at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, Joyce continued her success and set a Canadian junior national record of 58.90m. Through the course of her successful career as a Golden Bear, Joyce became a

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

Champion and two NCAA All-American. She also was a four-time qualifier for the NCAA Championships, placing as high as fourth in 2000. In 2003, her first year as a post-collegiate athlete, Joyce continued to train in California and won her first Canadian senior title. She successfully defended her title in 2004 and 2005 and earned a spot on the Canadian team for the 2005 World Championships. Joyce also set a national record of 68.48 meters that season. She then followed up her successful 2005 season with a silver medal at the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006, were an International sport, international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Melbourne ...

. In 2009, Joyce won her fourth national title and improved her personal best to 70.35m, becoming just the second Canadian to surpass 70 meters. In addition to throwing, Joyce served as an assistant coach for the University of California's track and field team from 2003 until 2007. During her tenure, she coached several NCAA All-Americans and guided Kelechi Anyanwu to the first NCAA women's discus title in school history. She also coached

Amin Nikfar Amin Abraham Tiny Paul Nikfar (, born 2 January 1981 in San Jose, United States) is an Iranian-American shot putter. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 2004 where he was a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity. Amin fi ...

to gold at the 2004 Asian Indoor Championships. Since 2008, she has lived in

Kamloops Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the North Thompson River, North and South Thompson Rivers, which join to become the Thompson River in Kamloops, and east of Kamloops Lake. The city is the ad ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, where she continues to train and also works as a personal trainer. She sits on the

Athletics Canada Athletics Canada or AC () is the national governing body for athletics in Canada, which includes track and field, cross-country running, road running, and race walking. Based in Ottawa, Ontario, Athletics Canada is a non-profit organization. The ...

Board of Directors as an Athlete Representative since 2013.[] Athletics Canada Board of Directors

Achievements

References

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2006 Commonwealth Games profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joyce, Jennifer 1980 births Canadian female hammer throwers Athletes (track and field) at the 2003 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Canada Living people Track and field athletes from Vancouver Pan American Games track and field athletes for Canada Medallists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Canadian Track and Field Championships winners Commonwealth Games athletes for Canada 21st-century Canadian sportswomen California Golden Bears women's track and field athletes Commonwealth Games silver medallists in athletics