Karin Kiefer Smith (born August 4, 1955, in

Fürstenfeldbruck Fürstenfeldbruck () is a town in Bavaria, Germany, 32 kilometres west of Munich. It is the capital of the district of Fürstenfeldbruck. it had a population of 35,494. Since the 1930s Fürstenfeldbruck has had an air force base. Geography F ...

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

) is a retired female

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown as far as possible. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's de ...

er from the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. She was born in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. She is a three-time Olympian. Smith qualified for a fourth, the 1980 U.S. Olympic team, but was unable to compete due to the

1980 Summer Olympics boycott The 1980 Summer Olympics boycott was the largest boycott in Olympic history and one part of a number of actions initiated by the United States to protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviet Union, which hosted the 1980 Summ ...

. She did, however, receive one of 461

Congressional Gold Medal The Congressional Gold Medal is the oldest and highest civilian award in the United States, alongside the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It is bestowed by vote of the United States Congress, signed into law by the president. The Gold Medal exp ...

s created especially for the spurned athletes. Her all-time career-best mark was 212 feet, 6 inches in August 1980.

Early life and college success

After graduating from La Jolla High School, Smith initially attended

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

before leaving to train in Germany in 1977. Smith then returned to college, enrolling at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. While at Cal Poly, she won the Broderick Award (now the

Honda Sports Award The Honda Sports Award is an annual award in the United States, given to the best collegiate female athlete in each of twelve sports. There are four nominees for each sport, and the twelve winners of the Honda Sports Award are automatically in t ...

) as the nation's best female collegiate track and field competitor in 1982. With Smith leading the way, the Mustangs won the 1981

AIAW The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was a college athletics organization in the United States, founded in 1971 to govern women's college competitions in the country and to administer national championships (see AIAW Cham ...

Division II national championship and then repeated at the first NCAA D-II national finals meet in 1982. During an era when Division II winners could then also compete at the Division I meets, Smith won the NCAA Division I javelin individual national championship on June 4, 1982 with a mark of 206 feet, 9 inches, which held the all-time event record with the previous design.2021 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Record Book

International competitions

References

* 1955 births Living people People from Fürstenfeldbruck (district) Athletes from Upper Bavaria Track and field athletes from California American female javelin throwers Olympic track and field athletes for the United States Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for the United States Cal Poly Mustangs women's track and field athletes UCLA Bruins women's track and field athletes Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Congressional Gold Medal recipients Goodwill Games medalists in athletics FISU World University Games silver medalists for the United States Medalists at the 1981 Summer Universiade Competitors at the 1990 Goodwill Games NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners 20th-century American sportswomen {{US-javelinthrow-athletics-bio-stub