Karin Kiefer Smith (born August 4, 1955, in

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

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

) 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. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the ...

er from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. She was born in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. 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 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 Summer Olympics in Moscow, and its allies later ...

. She did, however, receive one of 461 Congressional Gold Medals 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. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

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 th ...

) 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 founded in 1971 to govern collegiate women's athletics in the United States and to administer national championships (see AIAW Champions). It evolved out of the Commission on Interc ...

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) Sportspeople 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 track and field UCLA Bruins women's track and field athletes Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Congressional Gold Medal recipients California Polytechnic State University alumni Goodwill Games medalists in athletics Universiade silver medalists for the United States Medalists at the 1981 Summer Universiade Competitors at the 1990 Goodwill Games {{US-javelinthrow-athletics-bio-stub