Kara Winger - Q&A

Athletes are still keeping busy, but finding time to answer a few questions for us to help their fans get to know them better. This is our second installment with three-time Olympian, women’s javelin American record-holder and eight-time USATF Champion, Kara Winger.
 
USATF: What is your favorite competition memory so far?
Winger: The 2019 Pan American Games were super fun. Turning my season around there by finally trusting myself again was amazing. Being in the same field with Ari [Ince], who is one of my best friends, and coming away with two medals was fabulous. I remember being just so comfortable succeeding together. We were absolutely supportive of each other from the bus ride to the stadium, all the way through the medal ceremony and beyond, but also in our own independent zones the whole time. I loved everything about it.

Favorite competition memory #2: Winning the 2010 Prefontaine Classic on my last throw. It was merely a week after I broke the American record, a competitor had been using my favorite implement the whole meet so that I couldn't, and I finally was brave enough to take it back respectfully before my last throw. I threw what was a Hayward Field record at the time (65.90m) and won the first Diamond League meet I'd been part of. SO fun! 

USATF: How do you overcome adversity, especially now when things are so NOT normal?
Winger: Recognize and focus on what I can control. Celebrate little progressions each day and week. My injuries, minor and major, have taught me so much about staying calm, doing what you can, and trusting the process. This global pandemic is obviously bigger than that, but I've always loved change, and have been more creative than ever in my training in the past two seasons. 

It sort of feels like this crazy time in our lives is some sort of culmination of how I've lived my life as a javelin thrower: Training alone most of the time anyway, recovering from injuries and therefore learning an incredible variety of exercises, and adapting to either not getting workouts on time in my former coaching situation, or having a lot of input and creative license now. I'm ready for anything.

USATF: What’s something you’re passionate about outside of your sport?
Winger: Public lands! The outdoors is my oasis. Public lands and national parks are so important to protect. They're our national treasures.

USATF: What’s your favorite recipe?
Winger: My husband, Russ, is my personal, fabulous chef! He recently came up with trout dumplings using rainbow trout, we caught ice fishing, with shitake mushrooms, green onions, cabbage, some vinegar and garlic, fried in wonton wrappers. Dip in soy sauce with wasabi powder, ponzu sauce or teriyaki. YUM. The perfect pairing is a Japanese whiskey/ginger beer/lime juice cocktail he whipped up. I'm incredibly spoiled.

USATF: Do you have pets? What kinds?
Winger: Yes! Maddie is a purebred but adopted yellow lab. We are her third and forever home, and May 10 will mark four years of her five-and-a-half that she has been ours. She was a family friend's first, then a family member's, and while we planned to take her in after Rio 2016, what we thought would be a trial period that spring turned into a happy lifetime together. Everyone who knows us and her, knows how ridiculously perfect she is for Russ and I.
 
USATF: How do you adjust your eating/nutrition habits when on the road so much?
Winger: I am not at all a picky eater, and I quite enjoy new food experiences, so traveling and eating is one of my favorite things actually. I attribute some of my 2012 ACL tear to being too lean for too long, so since then my caloric needs haven't been as much of a focus of my training. That means that finding food that satisfies me abroad is fun and not stressful, as long as I'm monitoring quantity and how I feel. I do always have snacks though, and Honey Stinger anything makes me so happy.

USATF: What’s your favorite exercise you can do at home, at a hotel or at the airport?
Winger: I had a serious back injury in college, so I love glute bridges, marching in that position, balance exercises and any and all core. I always travel with a foam roller and lacrosse ball, so those are my go-to things on layovers or when I finally arrive in a hotel on the other side of the world. Mobility is everything after long flights (and really all the time for a javelin thrower).

USATF: What do you think is the most misunderstood aspect of your event?
Winger: People always say, "Oh, I better not make you mad!!" Um, that is not the point (ha!) of the event. Also you just made me mad. Secondly and just as important, that upper body strength is everything in the javelin. I think that stigma comes from any representation of it in movies being from a stand or barely-moving position, and people have never seen the full, Olympic-caliber motion before. 

USATF: What do you remember about your first competition, and when was it?
Winger: My first competition ever was on my fifteenth birthday (April 10, 2001). I threw like 97 feet in the junior varsity section of a competition in Oregon in the rain, and I would have won the varsity competition with that mark. I have no recollection of what it felt like, which throw was my best, or who else was there besides my coach and my parents. I do still remember my dad's surprised and proud exclamations that are still some of my favorite sounds to this day.  

USATF: As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Winger: An astronaut. Or a marine animal trainer.

USATF: What other sports have you participated in?
Winger: Almost everything. Tee Ball then softball, soccer, volleyball, swimming, basketball, golf. I swam and played basketball as well as throwing the javelin all the way through high school. I thought basketball was my ticket to college.

USATF: Who do you admire the most in your event?
Winger: Barbora Spotakova. She is hands down the best there has ever been (WR and top list domination) and is just a wonderful, well-rounded, hilarious person. Also, Johannes Vetter because I think he has done an incredible job of sticking to his own process in the face of adversity (injuries). I was so impressed by him in 2019. 
 
USATF: What other random fun fact or story would you like people to know about you?
Winger: I have been re-learning the piano this year and it's my favorite!

USATF: Lastly, name one thing you’re grateful for.
Winger: Russ Winger.