Becky Breisch (born March 16, 1983) is an American

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete who competes in the

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiqui ...

. She has represented the United States in the event at three consecutive

World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...

from 2005 to 2009. Her personal best throw of 67.37 meters for the discus makes her the sixth best American of all-time in the event. A two-time USA Outdoor champion as a professional, she also claimed

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

titles in the discus and

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

while at the

University of Nebraska–Lincoln The University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Nebraska, NU, or UNL) is a public land-grant research university in Lincoln, Nebraska. Chartered in 1869 by the Nebraska Legislature as part of the Morrill Act of 1862, the school was known as the Universit ...

Career

Early life and college

Born in

Edwardsburg, Michigan Edwardsburg is a village within Ontwa Township, Michigan, Ontwa Township in Cass County, Michigan, Cass County in the U.S. state of Michigan, northeast of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. The population was 1,259 at the 2010 United States Census, ...

, she attended Edwardsburg High School before going on to college at the

.Becky Breisch

USATF USA Track & Field (USATF) is the United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 and ...

. Retrieved on 2011-02-13. While majoring in community health, she competed for the

Nebraska Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference, and the Cornhuskers compete in NCAA Divis ...

women's track and field team in the shot put and discus throw. In 2002, she won discus at the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

in her first year and was the runner-up in the event at the

NCAA Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championship The NCAA Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championship refers to one of three annual collegiate outdoor track and field competitions for women organised by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for athletes from institutions that make ...

later that summer. In her

sophomore year In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. In ...

at Nebraska she won both the indoor and outdoor Big 12 shot put titles, the Big 12 discus title, and then went on to claim her first outdoor NCAA title in the shot put.Becky Breisch
Cornhuskers. Retrieved on 2011-02-13. The 2004 season brought her further success: she won both the shot put and

weight throw Two sports have events that fall under the name of weight throw one being the track and field event and the other being the Scottish highland games events. The track and field event is most popular in the United States as an indoor equivalent t ...

events at the Big 12 Indoor Championships and placed second in the shot at the NCAA Indoors. Turning to the outdoor season, she repeated as the Big 12 shot champion and won the discus at the NCAA Outdoors. She narrowly missed out on a place at the

2004 Athens Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

, as she finished fourth at that year's

United States Olympic Trials The United States Olympic Trials are competitions held in certain sports to select the United States' participants in those sports at the Olympic Games. These events include: * United States Olympic Trials (curling) * United States Olympic Trials (d ...

. An elbow injury meant that she missed the majority of the

college athletics College athletics encompasses non-professional, collegiate and university-level competitive sports and games. World University Games The first World University Games were held in 1923. There were originally called the ''Union Nationale des ...

season in her last year at Nebraska. In her time at Nebraska she earned NCAA

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n honours on eight occasions.

Professional

She threw a personal best in the discus in

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United Sta ...

in May 2005, launching the implement . That throw ranked her as the second best American thrower of the season behind Aretha Thurmond. She won the discus at the

Drake Relays The Drake Relays (officially the Drake Relays presented by Xtream powered by Mediacom) is an outdoor track and field event held in Des Moines, Iowa, in Drake Stadium on the campus of Drake University. Billed as ''America's Athletic Classic'', it ...

and then took her first national discus title at the

USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships is an annual track and field competition organized by USA Track & Field, which serves as the American national championships for the sport. Since the year 1992, in the years which feature a Summer Olym ...

, earning herself a place for the world championships. At the

2005 World Championships in Athletics The 10th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland (6 August 2005 – 14 August 2005), the site of the first IAAF ...

her best throw of 57.16 m in the qualifiers was not enough to progress to the final.Briesch, Becky

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

. Retrieved on 2011-02-13. She set a personal record throw of in

Maui, Hawaii The island of Maui (; Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the List of islands of the United States by area, 17th largest island in the United S ...

in April 2007, a mark which elevated her to second on the all-time American lists behind

Suzy Powell Suzanne "Suzy" Powell-Roos (born September 3, 1976) is an American discus thrower. She competed at the 1996, 2000 and 2008 Olympics with the best result of 15th place in 2000. She holds the American record at 222 ft 0 in (67.67 m), which s ...

(who had thrown in Hawaii just two days earlier). She won the discus at the

Reebok Grand Prix The USATF New York Grand Prix is an annual athletics meeting held at Icahn Stadium in New York City, United States. First started in 2005 as the Reebok Grand Prix and then Adidas Grand Prix, it was previously one of the IAAF Grand Prix events. ...

and was runner-up at the USA Outdoor Nationals. On her second global appearance at the

2007 World Championships in Athletics The 11th World Championships in Athletics, () under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007. 200 of the IAAF's 212 member federat ...

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

she was again knocked out in the qualifying round. As one of the best performers on the circuit, she was invited to the

2007 IAAF World Athletics Final The 5th IAAF World Athletics Final was held at the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion in Stuttgart, Germany on September 22 and September 23, 2007. Results Men Women See also *2007 in athletics (track and field) References ;Results2007 IAAF World ...

, where she finished in fourth place. A fourth-place finish at the 2008 Olympic Trials meant she again narrowly missed out on an opportunity to perform on the Olympic stage. At the

2008 IAAF World Athletics Final The 6th IAAF World Athletics Final was held at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Stuttgart, Germany on September 13 and September 14, 2008. A number of road races also took place on the second day of competition. There were seven different starting po ...

, she managed only seventh position. She fared better at the

2009 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The 2009 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships took place between June 25–28 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. The competition acted as a way of selecting the United States team for the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin later ...

, where her throw of brought her the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

and another place on the American world team. For a third consecutive time, she was knocked out in the qualifying round, taking eleventh place in the group stage of the 2009 World Championships. Breisch claimed her second national title in the discus at the

2010 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The 2010 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships were held at Drake Stadium, Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa on June 23–27, 2010. In order to boost the visibility of this event, USATF sponsored a member appreciation tent at the event and ...

, defeating Olympic champion

Stephanie Brown Trafton Stephanie Brown Trafton (born December 1, 1979) is an American track and field athlete who won the discus throwing gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. She is thus one of only three American women to have ever won the event. She wa ...

among others.Morse, Parker (2010-06-28)
Oliver flies 12.93, Suhr soars 4.89m as US champs conclude

. Retrieved on 2011-01-27. She was one of two athletes to be selected to represent

the Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...

at the

2010 IAAF Continental Cup The 1st IAAF Continental Cup was an international track and field sporting event held under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations. Originally scheduled as the 11th IAAF World Cup in Athletics, it was renamed in 200 ...

(the other being Cuban

Yarelis Barrios Yarelys Barrios Castañeda (also ''Yarelis Barrios Castañeda''; born July 12, 1983, in Pinar del Río) is a discus thrower from Cuba. Career She won the ''Diamond Race'' in the women's discus throw of the IAAF Diamond League both in 2010 and ...

) and she finished fifth with a best mark of .

Major competition record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Breisch, Becky 1983 births Living people American female discus throwers American female shot putters Nebraska Cornhuskers women's track and field athletes World Athletics Championships athletes for the United States People from Edwardsburg, Michigan Track and field athletes from Michigan USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners