Weir

The idea of being a role model is important in the story of hammer thrower Jillian Weir.

She grew up with a role model for her sport in her own house, as her father Robert Weir represented Great Britain at the Olympics three times, in the hammer throw and the discus. He remains a role model to Jillian and other young throwers as assistant throws coach at the University of Missouri.

But Weir is a role model in her own right. First, she is a volunteer assistant coach with her father, helping guide young athletes down the road she has already travelled as a two-time All-American at the University of Oregon. She is also a role the model for Indigenous youth to see themselves in a sport they don't always have access to. Being of Mohawk ancestry, competing at the Olympic Games gives young Indigenous Canadians another athlete to emulate.

“I think I should be able to be a model of you can do anything, you can play any sport and you can reach the highest level no matter where you come from, what you look like or who you represent,” said Weir.

In the throwing circle, Weir has definitely made her mark, representing Canada at the NACAC Championships where she turned in a silver-medal performance in 2018, Pan American Games (eighth with a throw of 65.41 metres), Commonwealth Games and the World Athletics Championships. She also holds the title of 2018 Canadian Champion, earning the crown at the event in Ottawa.

She set her personal best of 72.50 metres in a winning effort at the Tucson Elite Classic in 2017. This season, after having no competitions in 2020, she has approached that mark again, throwing 71.96 metres at her last pre-Olympic meet in Oklahoma in June, after having thrown 72.29 metres at a meet in Kansas at the end of April.

Role models come up big when it counts the most. Does Weir have a record-breaking throw coming, when all eyes will be on the Tokyo throwing circle?