August Louis "Augie" Wolf (born September 3, 1961) is an American former field athlete known for throwing the shot put. He is a graduate of

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

. He is a former United States indoor shot put national champion, United States outdoor shot put national champion, and an Olympian. A member of the Republican Party, he sought the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate for Connecticut in 2016 against Democratic incumbent

Richard Blumenthal Richard Blumenthal (; born February 13, 1946) is an American lawyer and politician who is the senior United States senator from Connecticut, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he is one of the wealthiest members of ...

. He was defeated at the state Republican convention by state representative from Bethel,

Dan Carter Daniel William Carter (born 5 March 1982) is a retired New Zealand rugby union player. Carter played for Crusaders (Super Rugby) in New Zealand and played for New Zealand's national team, the All Blacks. He is the highest point scorer in ...

Career

Wolf studied and trained at Princeton University from 1979 to 1983, becoming the record-holder in the Ivy League with a throw of 67-2. After training in Leverkusen, Germany, with TSV Bayer 04 he placed 2nd in the 1984 Olympic Trials, earning a spot on the American team at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the sec ...

, placing fourth in the shot put competition. Wolf won the Indoor National title at the February 1984 USA-Mobil Indoor Track and Field Championship at the Madison Square Garden with a throw of . He was the 1984 United States National champion. Wolf placed fifth at the 1983 World University Games in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Wolf's career personal bests were in the shot put and 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 disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an ancient sport, as demonstrated by th ...

. During his athletic career, Wolf was involved in one drug testing violation. The

International Association of Athletics Federations 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 fo ...

(IAAF) initially banned Wolf for life after ruling he had refused post-match testing on July 7, 1985, in

Byrkjelo Byrkjelo is a village in the municipality of Gloppen in Vestland county, Norway. It is located about halfway between the villages of Sandane (in Gloppen) and Skei (in Sunnfjord) along the European route E39 highway. The village of Re lies abou ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

. Supported by the

USA Track & Field 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 ...

Federation, he appealed citing errors in the testing notification. The ban was reduced to an eighteen-month suspension and he returned to competition in 1987.

Personal

Wolf was raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, and is a 1983 graduate of

. He works for Lebenthal Wealth Advisors and is on the Board of Holborn. He has four children. One son, A.J., born 1994,

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

as a college football sophomore defensive tackle for the 2014 Duke Blue Devils. A.J. was a four-time New York State NYSAIS Champion in the shot put and discus, and a Junior National shot put champion. He was also a four-year letterman and two-time

New York State Sportswriters Association The New York State Sportswriters Association (NYSSWA), founded in 1967, is a source of reference information and statistics about scholastic athletics in the state. Begun by sportswriters Larry Serrell of the Schenectady Daily Gazette and Chuck Ko ...

(NYSSWA) All-State selection in football. Son Alexander was 2014 Gatorade Basketball Player of the Year in the State of Connecticut and will attended and play for Dartmouth College in 2014. Son Andrew will attend University of Connecticut in 2014. Daughter Abbie will be a junior at Greenwich High School. Wolf founded and leads ''US Athletic Trust'', a sport NGO providing support and advocacy for American Olympic athletes, and was named Trustee of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Foundation in 2014. After the series of U.S. Olympic scandals in 2018, he also cofounded ''Olympians Rising'', a non-profit group of Olympians and friends supporting urgent reform to the

U.S. Olympic Committee The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee and the National Paralympic Committee for the United States. It was founded in 1895 as the United States Olympic Committee, and is headquartered in Col ...

and rebuilding the U.S. Olympic program from the ground up. He is also on the Board of the Friends of Princeton Track.

Politics

Wolf sought to be the 2016

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

candidate for Connecticut's U.S. Senate seat, currently held by Democrat

. He was defeated by state representative

at the state Republican convention on May 9, securing less than the 15% of delegates required for an automatic primary. On May 11, Wolf announced that he would attempt to force a primary by collecting the signatures of 8,079 registered Republicans by June 7. On October 19, 2015, billionaire, industrialist

David Koch David Hamilton Koch ( ; May 3, 1940 – August 23, 2019) was an American businessman, political activist, philanthropist, and chemical engineer. In 1970, he joined the family business: Koch Industries, the second largest privately held c ...

held a fundraiser for three Senators and August Wolf in his campaign for United States Senate against Blumenthal. On June 1, 2016, The Hartford Courant reported that a former campaign staffer Samantha Menh filed a suit against the Campaign, August Wolf, and Campaign manager Baylor Myers, alleging breach of contract. The lawsuit also claimed Wolf violated federal and Connecticut campaign laws, and cited several unsubstantiated claims of untoward behavior. It was said by the attorney representing Baylor Myers that "we will present evidence that Ms. Menh had planned to quit her job with that previous employer and bring a false claim of sexual harassment to leverage a settlement. The allegations made in this lawsuit are false and we can prove it.” On October 19, 2022, six and a half years after Ms. Menh had filed her original complaint, Ms. Menh voluntarily withdrew her complaint against Wolf, without any financial settlement. A jury trial had been scheduled on commence on November 1, 2022, less than two weeks later.

2016 Connecticut Republican State Convention

After gaining the support of over 17% of the delegates in the first round of voting (over the 15% hurdle for ballot access), Wolf's supporters were then aggressively lobbied by Super Delegates, and about 50 switched to Carter before the final tally. Upon failing to secure 15% of the delegates at the State Republican Convention, Wolf decided to petition onto the primary ballot. He failed to gather the required signatures of 2% of registered Republican voters, 8,079, and the state Secretary of State verified just 5,280 signatures on June 21, 2016. August Wolf failed to force a primary with party endorsed candidate Dan Carter. He then suspended his campaign.

Notes

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