Kibwé Johnson

Personal information
Born	(1981-07-17)July 17, 1981 (age 44)
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight	107 kg (236 lb)
Sport
Country	United States
Sport	Athletics
Event	Hammer throw
Medal record Pan American Games 2011 Guadalajara Hammer throw 2015 Toronto Hammer throw 2007 Rio de Janeiro Hammer throw
Updated on July 22, 2015

Kibwé Johnson (born July 17, 1981) is an American Olympictrack and field athlete who specializes in thehammer throw. He has represented his country at theWorld Championships in Athletics three times (2007, 2011, and 2015). Competed in the 2012 London Olympics where he made the final and finished 9th. No American had made the final since 1996. Johnson competed in2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

He is a three-time medalist at thePan American Games, having taken silver in2007 and improved to the gold in2011 (where he broke the Games record), and then repeated in2015 in Toronto. He set his personal best of 80.31 meters (263 feet 6 inches) in 2011. He was the 2011 USA Outdoor Champion in the hammer throw and the 2008 USA Indoor Champion in theweight throw where he recorded the second best mark in US history.

Born inSan Francisco, he initially started as adiscus thrower, before starting to focus more on the hammer while studying at theUniversity of Georgia. Johnson later moved toMoorpark Junior College inMoorpark, California before finishing atAshland University where he later graduated and represented them inNCAA Division II competitions.^[1] He competed at the 2004United States Olympic Trials in both the discus and hammer, placing eighth and 19th respectively.^[2] He placed third in theweight throw at the 2005USA Indoor Track and Field Championships and threw a best of 24.54 meters (80 feet 6 inches) at the Oiler Open meet – a distance which ranked him as the third best American and eleventh best ever in the history of the event.^[3] A personal record hammer throw of 78.25 m in May saw him rank third nationally that year. He was the runner-up in the weight throw at the 2006 USA Indoors, then finished in fourth place in the hammer throw at theUSA Outdoor Track and Field Championships later that year.^[2]

Johnson had his breakthrough season in 2007. He won the discus event at theMt. SAC Relays then came runner-up in the hammer at the 2007 USA Outdoors.^[2] Making his international debut at the2007 Pan American Games, he had a throw of 73.23 m on his final attempt, which brought him thesilver medal behind Canada'sJames Steacy.^[4] Johnson was selected to represent the United States at the2007 World Championships in Athletics, but failed to record a valid throw in the qualifying round. In spite of this he remained positive about the experience and fellow throwersTore Gustafsson andKoji Murofushi offered him encouragement and technical advice.^[1] In 2008 he won the USA Indoors weight throw title – his first win at national level – but he fouled out at the 2008 Olympic Trials later in the season.^[2] This frustrating result was the catalyst for his move to train with Dr. Bondarchuk.

After missing much of 2009, he returned to form in 2010 as he finished as runner-up in the hammer at the2010 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships (throwing 76.31 m). A personal best throw of 80.31 m at the2011 USA Outdoors saw Johnson take his first ever national outdoor title. As national champion, he gained his second opportunity to compete on the global stage at the2011 World Championships in Athletics, but his best throw of 75.06 m in qualifying was not enough to reach the final.^[2] He was also chosen to represent his country at the2011 Pan American Games inGuadalajara. At the competition he improved from his silver in 2007 to take thegold medal with aPan American Games record mark of 79.63 m, improvingLance Deal's record from 1999.^[5]

In the last ten years, Kibwé has won 5 US Championships with 3 runner-up finishes. He competed at the2012 Summer Olympics, finishing 8th in the men's hammer final.^[6] One of the most versatile throwers of all time, he has the unofficial world record for combination of Hammer throw (80.31 m; 263 ft 6 in), Discus (65.11 m; 213 ft 7 in), indoor weight throw (25.12 m; 82 ft 5 in).

He is coached by former Soviet Olympic champion and coach,Dr. Anatoliy Bondarchuk. He is married toCrystal Smith Johnson, a former Canadian champion and record holder who also trained with Bondarchuk.^[27] They have two daughters, born on April 18, 2012, and September 6, 2015. Johnson resides inBradenton,Florida, where he is a throws coach atIMG Academy.

• Kibwé Johnson atWorld Athletics
• Kibwé Johnson atlegacy.USATF.org (archived)

• USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners
• 1981 births
• Living people
• American men hammer throwers
• African-American track and field athletes
• Ashland Eagles men's track and field athletes
• Georgia Bulldogs men's track and field athletes
• North Gwinnett High School alumni
• Junior college men's track and field athletes in the United States
• Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics
• Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics
• Olympic track and field athletes for the United States
• Men weight throwers
• World Athletics Championships athletes for the United States
• Track and field athletes from San Francisco
• USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners
• Athletes (track and field) at the 2007 Pan American Games
• Athletes (track and field) at the 2011 Pan American Games
• Athletes (track and field) at the 2015 Pan American Games
• Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games
• Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games
• Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games
• Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in athletics (track and field)
• Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States in athletics (track and field)
• 21st-century African-American sportsmen
• 20th-century African-American sportsmen
• 20th-century American sportsmen
• 21st-century American sportsmen

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