BRUCE Lauren

General
HAMMER FOCUS
After she did not perform as well as she hoped at several competitions in Europe in 2018, she says she considered quitting athletics. "My identity had become so wound up in the sport, I just couldn't let go of a bad competition or a bad training session. It got to the point I didn't even know if I enjoyed the sport anymore." She took three months away from athletics and after she returned, she competed in both the hammer and discus in 2019. "For a long time, I held on to always having something else alongside hammer. I realise now I liked the security of having another event to fall back on. If the hammer did not go well, I'd channel my frustration into the discus. I distinctly remember the conversation in the car park with my coach after training one day when he said, 'You are going to have to choose one event; if you keep trying to do both you're not going to qualify for the [2020] Olympics at all'." In 2020 she made the decision to quit her 25-hours-a-week job at a food company in order to focus on the hammer full-time. (worldathletics.org, 23 Mar 2021)

HANDEDNESS
She is right-handed and throws the shot put and discus using her right hand, but competes in the hammer left-handed. "I remember doing a couple of sessions and asking my coach if I could switch from spinning anti-clockwise to clockwise. For whatever reason I found myself more comfortable rotating the other way for hammer, perhaps from my time spinning clockwise as a gymnast. As soon as I started throwing left-handed, it felt natural to me. I quickly improved and got sucked into the hammer." (worldathletics.org, 23 Mar 2021; stuff.co.nz, 26 Sep 2020)

OTHER ACTIVITIES
She coaches gymnastics in her spare time. (stuff.co.nz, 26 Sep 2020)