Kibwe Johnson

Kibwé Johnson (born July 17, 1981) is an American Olympic track and field athlete who specializes in the hammer throw. He has represented his country at the World 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 in 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

He is a three-time medalist at the Pan American Games, having taken silver in 2007 and improved to the gold in 2011 (where he broke the Games record), and then repeated in 2015 in Toronto. He set his personal best of in 2011. He was the 2011 USA Outdoor Champion in the hammer throw and the 2008 USA Indoor Champion in the weight throw where he recorded the second best mark in US history.

Career Born in San Francisco, he initially started as a discus thrower, before starting to focus more on the hammer while studying at the University of Georgia. Johnson later moved to Moorpark Junior College in Moorpark, California before finishing at Ashland University where he later graduated and represented them in NCAA Division II competitions. He competed at the 2004 United States Olympic Trials in both the discus and hammer, placing eighth and 19th respectively. He placed third in the weight throw at the 2005 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships and threw a best of 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. 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 the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships later that year. Johnson was selected to represent the United States at the 2007 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 throwers Tore Gustafsson and Koji Murofushi offered him encouragement and technical advice.

In the last ten years, Kibwé has won 5 US Championships with 3 runner-up finishes. He competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics, finishing 8th in the men's hammer final. One of the most versatile throwers of all time, he has the unofficial world record for combination of Hammer throw , Discus , indoor weight throw .

Personal life He is coached by former Soviet Olympic champion and coach, Dr. Anatoliy Bondarchuk. He is married to Crystal Smith Johnson, a former Canadian champion and record holder who also trained with Bondarchuk. They have two daughters, born on April 18, 2012, and September 6, 2015. Johnson resides in Bradenton, Florida, where he is a throws coach at IMG Academy.