KOVACS Joe

General
WORLD GOLD BY ONE CENTIMETRE
He won the shot put gold at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar with a final-round throw of 22.91m that was one centimetre further than New Zealand athlete Tom Walsh, who was the competition's previous leader and the 2017 world champion. US athlete Ryan Crouser went on to match Walsh's distance of 22.90m with his final-round throw and took silver by virtue of a superior second-best mark, meaning all three medal winners were separated by one centimetre. Kovacs' winning throw was the furthest distance recorded by any shot putter since US athlete Randy Barnes set a world record of 23.12m in 1990 and the joint-third longest of all time. "There's always those sixth-round heroics. Somebody always pops up and goes crazy. I wasn't trying to get affected by that and I turned out to be that guy who was doing it. We push each other and, if you want to be the best, you have to knock each other off and even just making the US team can be as tough as winning a medal at a world championships." (worldathletics.org, 22 Apr 2021, 05 Oct 2019; World Athletics YouTube Channel, 06 Oct 2019; joekovacs.com, 06 Oct 2019)

WIFE AND COACH
He admitted that he considered retirement from athletics before his wife Ashley Kovacs became his new coach in 2019. The pair had got married in 2018 and he believes she was the inspiration behind his gold medal at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar. "Having worked with coach Art Venegas in California between 2013 and 2017, I'm grateful for everything he taught me, but I decided on a change. In 2018 I experimented with a new technique and struggled more than I ever imagined. I lost passion for the sport and considered retiring but, when I saw how Ashley was having success with collegiate throwers, we discussed a new plan for 2019. After initially struggling, I'm so happy I won gold at the 2019 world championships. I went into round six and my wife said try and stay in your lane and get a personal best because that will get you into medal contention. That was the goal, so I'm super proud to come away with a gold and it speaks volumes of the hard work we have put in because I couldn't have done it without her. Thanks to her, our plan worked. I never thought I would throw far again, let alone do it with a smile." (tokyo2020.org, 18 Mar 2021; popsugar.co.uk, 11 Nov 2019; Instagram profile, 06 Oct 2019; World Athletics YouTube Channel, 06 Oct 2019)