Dylan Armstrong (born January 15, 1981) 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 ...

athletics coach and retired competitive

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 ...

ter. He is the 2008 Olympic bronze medallist, a two-time

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

medallist, a two-time

Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

champion, and the 2010 Commonwealth Games champion in that discipline. He was awarded his Olympic bronze medal in 2015, seven years after the event, following the doping disqualification of competitor Andrei Mikhnevich. Armstrong holds the Canadian national record for the shot put, and is a former holder of the

and Commonwealth games records. Armstrong was the first Canadian to reach the podium in a throwing event in a major global competition.

Career

Prior to focusing on the shot put in 2004, Armstrong competed in the

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 ...

. As a junior, he won a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

at the 1999 Pan American Junior Games and a

silver medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

at the 2000 World Junior Championships. He continues to hold the North American high school and junior records in the hammer throw. His personal best is 71.51 ft, achieved in April 2003 in

Walnut A walnut is the edible seed of any tree of the genus '' Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. They are accessory fruit because the outer covering of the fruit is technically an i ...

. Armstrong achieved a personal best, and Canadian record at that time, of 21.04 meters at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, where he finished fourth, missing out on a

medal A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be in ...

by a single centimetre. However, on August 20, 2014 the Canadian Olympic Committee announced that Armstrong would be awarded the 2008 Summer Olympic bronze medal by the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

. This followed a retroactive lifetime ban for doping violations dating back to 2005 given to Belarusian shot putter Andrei Mikhnevich, who had won the medal initially.

Commonwealth and World Championships success

28 years after former Canadian national champion Bruno Pauletto won gold at the 1982 Commonwealth Games Armstrong succeeded in reiterating that performance at the 2010 edition of the Games, placing first with a Commonwealth record of 21.02 m. At the 2010 World Indoor Championship, in

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

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, Dylan placed fourth with a Canadian indoor record of 21.39 m. He improved his outdoor national record to 21.58 m at the Askina Meeting in Baunatal, Germany, beating Ralf Bartels to the victory. When in 2014 Andrei Mikhnevich was stripped of the event's silver medal for doping violations, Armstrong moved up to the bronze medal position. His first true world success came at the

2011 World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The United States topped the medal standings in the ...

when he won the silver at the outdoor event for shot put. He threw a 21.64 before David Storl of

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 ...

beat him with a 21.78 on his last throw. Armstrong next attended the

2011 Pan American Games The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games () and commonly known as Guadalajara 2011, were an international multi-sport event held from October 14–30, 2011, in Guadalajara, Mexico. Some events were held in the nearby c ...

, there he went on to win gold and broke the Pan American Games record with a 21.30. Armstrong finished off the year by winning the

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fifteen invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics one-day meet competitions. The inaugural season was ...

title in shot put. As one of Canada's leading medal favourites and only medal favourite in athletics, Armstrong had set a season's best of 21.50 heading into the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in London. There he finished fifth, falling short of a medal.

Olympic bronze medal awarded

Prior to the beginning of the 2013 World Athletics Championships, Armstrong was awarded the bronze medal from the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships after Andrei Mikhnevich's positive drug test and subsequent forfeiture of his silver medal. At the time the IAAF and IOC had yet to rule on whether Armstrong would as well receive the bronze medal from the 2008 Olympics where he just missed the podium behind Mikhnevich. In an interview regarding the possible return of the medal Armstrong stated that "I worked hard for it, and I want it back...It's my country's medal too, we deserve it." The decision to allocate the Olympic bronze medal to Armstrong was finally announced in January 2015. After the awarding of his indoor medal, Armstrong began competition at the 2013 World Championships. He qualified for the finals where he threw 21.04 m. In the finals he tossed a season's best 21.34 m. Armstrong acknowledge the importance of sport funding as a result of what was Canada's fourth medal at the World Championships, tying a record from the 1995 World Championships. He said that "I just feel amazing. My coach and I worked really hard, I made some really good choices this year. It's another medal for Canada, it shows that when you have the right coaches in place, the right support and the funding behind it that it's going to pay off. You have to invest in sport, results don't come for free." Armstrong received his medal at a ceremony in his hometown of Kamloops on February 15, 2015, around 700 people attended the event. Following his competitive career, Armstrong started coaching amateur athletes at the

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 ...

Track and Field Club in 2017. He notably guided student Ethan Katzberg to a World title in the men's

at the 2023 World Athletics Championships.

Personal life

Armstrong lives in Kamloops, British Columbia and trained there during his career at the nearby National Throws Centre with famed coach and Olympic gold medallist Anatoliy Bondarchuk. In September 2015 Armstrong married the Russian shot putter Yevgeniya Kolodko whom he dated since 2012. In a reversal of situations, his wife Kolodko was stripped of all her medals from 2012 to 2016 following positive doping results in 2016 and tests of B samples. Armstrong responded to the issue saying: "News of athlete doping is very disheartening for competitive athletes who are committed to competing clean. I have never condoned doping in sport … I have been consistently outspoken about my position on doping, which is zero tolerance. Today's news is especially difficult as it affects both the Olympic athletic community I am part of – and someone I love deeply: Evgeniia."

Achievements

References

External links

*
Profile at Athletics Canada
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Armstrong, Dylan 1981 births Living people Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2007 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2011 Pan American Games Canadian people of Scottish descent Canadian male shot putters Canadian male hammer throwers Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Canada Olympic track and field athletes for Canada Sportspeople from Kamloops World Athletics Championships medalists Pan American Games gold medalists for Canada Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Canada Pan American Games gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Diamond League winners Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games 21st-century Canadian sportsmen Medallists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Canadian Track and Field Championships winners Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics