The Victory Lap: Joshua Awotunde🏆

Joining us this week is University of South Carolina Alum Joshua Awotunde! We are fortunate to have him take us through his new approach to high-level competition and what he visualizes inside the ring to produce the highest quality throws consistently. Josh also sheds some light on his difficult outdoor season and describes the mindset needed to overcome injuries and still make the World Championship team, which he did finishing third (21.51m). We hope you’ve enjoyed out chats with the Team USA throwers recently – be sure to mark your calendars and watch them compete starting next week!

First off, congratulations on making the Eugene Worlds Team! The US Men’s shot was incredibly competitive with 9 guys having the World standard. Did you approach this competition any differently knowing there was no wiggle room at all, like there may have been in some other events?

I'd say in years past, I'm usually a last throw best throw kind of guy. So I kind of wait for the finals in most of my competitions to really get after it. But recently, I've been training and working on trying to execute earlier in the competition, somewhat like what Kovacs did with Crouser.

That was Joe’s furthest opener, ever. That's how you apply pressure to people. I've been learning how to rev it up earlier in competitions, so you have more room to breathe for the final, in case somebody passes you or you gotta ramp it up again. You know you already threw 21.5m so let’s get it out there again.

You want to always end on your best throw, and that's still my goal in most competitions. But as I've gotten older, I've gotten better at really getting my energy going earlier, getting energized earlier in the competition. Of course you’re going to give effort on all six throws, but if I can get out there and toss 22m on the first throw and apply some pressure, that gives me the most options.

I’ve talked to a ton of throwers about the shot ring in Eugene — how do you like it? Is it at all an advantage to US throwers because they’ve been on it more than anyone else in the world?

That ring has changed the last three times I’ve thrown on it, really. At the Trials last year it had a pretty good texture to it. I had no complaints. Then I came back for Pre Classic and that thing was so slick! Then at USAs just recently, it was closer to the feeling of Trials but not quite the same.

But it does get really slick when it’s wet, no matter what. You saw that at Pre this year with a couple people falling. But to answer your question, I think we’re all pretty used to it and it shouldn’t be that much of a benefit for the US throwers.

When did you start throwing and when did it become such a passion?

I started throwing the discus my freshman year of high school. I started doing track and field in — I think — seventh grade because, you know, I played football too. The football coach was friends with the track coaches and if you wanted to play they kind of made you do track to stay fit through the year. so I was running in middle school and it was fun. I loved going out there and competing.

I was actually a high jumper, too, and I only jumped about five feet. But I mean, I'll never forget my win at the Wildcat Invitational, you know? That's kind of when winning became fun for me and I realized I could be something.

By the time I got to high school they started telling me I was going to be a thrower. I was already getting a little too big for high jump and stuff. I was probably 6’1” and 170 lbs in middle school, so that's a pretty big middle school kid.

When I got to high school and I ran the first indoor season, you know, growing up in New Jersey, indoor track is pretty damn big. Springtime came, and I was still running a little bit and then the head football coach was also the discus coach. And he saw my arms and he brought me over to the ring and I remember thinking, I can't figure this out.

He was telling me all these different cues to hit. And that's kind of what I really fell in love with in throwing. The technique is almost like a math equation, like, you gotta figure out how to get your body to do what your mind is telling it to do. You gotta get your body in this position to be able to throw far, you know. It was something that you just had to work towards. I fell in love with the grind to be able to execute the proper technique to throw far.

I made a huge jump forward my sophomore year, and decided that I should take my spin and apply that to my shot. And that's when spinning was first catching on in the high school ranks, because we had a guy down the road named Braheme Days who basically threw 70 feet as a junior. He was the best thrower in the country and was committed to UCLA.

So every time I was going against him, I felt like, ‘I'm here throwing 54 feet, he’s throwing 70, and people are trying to tell me 54 is good.’ But I was getting my butt kicked every weekend! I just wanted to win.

That again goes back to me falling in love with the work that you had to put in to be great, and really staying the course too. I think I beat him only once in high school but that was at the Meet of Champions, the biggest meet of the year in Jersey. That was just a combination of me putting in the work, you know — lifting heavy, getting super strong, executing technique, and just having patience.

Did you always want to continue your career after college?

Absolutely. I broke the Indoor SEC record my fifth year to bring back the record to USC. I really bought in my senior year, and I knew I could make the Olympics. In 2016, I came close to making the Olympic team for Nigeria as a 20-year-old. So I was like, ‘If I can stick this out, I can definitely make it post-collegiately.’

Why did you switch to the US federation? This team is so much harder to make!

I just decided to stick with Team USA because I thought that's the best shot put country in the world right now. If I want to do the best, I gotta compete with the best week in and week out to try and beat those guys. And I'm still working towards that. But me not making that Rio team was probably for the better.

If I made it then, I’d probably still be competing for Nigeria, and it’s just different, because you saw what happened last year with Nigeria and how a lot of athletes that qualified for the Olympics weren't able to compete. But yeah, even though I didn’t make the US Olympic team last year, these guys are still pushing me to be better every week and be the best I can be.

Well you made the past World Indoor team and placed 5th overall, so you’ve got a knack for competing at that stage when you have the opportunity.

This is my favorite question for throwers and jumpers. What does a perfect throw feel like for you?

It feels effortless. It feels like nothing. My best throws are probably the most effortless throws that I’ve felt. You know, you just kind of feel the shot come off your hand and it feels like you’re pushing on almost nothing because your technique was executed so well. It's a slow, loose movement. You're going to apply force, but you have to apply force in the right way.

You almost want to be really relaxed with the shoulders and then at the last moment you speed up to apply everything into the shot. The big thing I remember from my best throws was how patient I was at the start, you have to attack at the right moment. You’ve gotta move like water in a way. You gotta be so relaxed and so calm then at the last moment you tense up and put everything through the shot.

Thank you for supporting The Victory Lap initiative which has now raised over $21,500 for elite athletes with all proceeds going back to those whose stories we share. We’ve been able to give a way a lot of money, but need your help to keep it going! Please consider gifting a subscription to a friend or share on social media encouraging others to sign up!

When you’re visualizing your throws, what are you specifically seeing? You can be as technical as you want.

So what I'm working on right now is a slow patient start, because that helps me put more weight over my left side. You want to put all your body weight over your left foot out the back of the ring, so when you’re coming through the middle of the ring, all your body weight will be over your right. And that's where you can put everything into that right hip and drive into the shot.

So right now, I'm thinking of being patient so I have time for my body to shift its weight from my left side to my right side so I can attack down the middle. And then I have to have a good sweep, a wide sweep, with my right leg. From there, attack linearly down the middle of the toe board.

And then I'd say just for competition, I find a visual that I can keep my eye on. So if you’re in a ring like Eugene’s for a championship or something like that, you want to have a visual in front of you as you're sitting in the back of the ring that you can lock your eyes on, like a bench or a seat in the stands. And that really helps you keep the shot put back. You don't want to be too ahead of your legs as you start your throw, so your eyes help keep your head back, which slows the start of your upper body and the shot. And that will help you create more separation across your shoulders and your legs.

Who do you draw inspiration from?

Apart from my family, I'd say probably Tom Brady and Michael Jordan, because of the mindsets that they have. That Last Dance documentary — Michael Jordan kind of put everything into perspective, like, although that is a team sport, there's nobody more important than yourself when it comes to accountability.

And I know Michael Jordan would say whatever he wanted to anybody. But at the end of the day, he’s working twice as hard as the next man. I think the same thing is true with Tom Brady. There's no way you can play 20-plus years in the NFL without holding yourself accountable.

Those two guys, their mentalities, and what they accomplished, man. It’s something I try and carry with me — discipline, that's the name of the game. Discipline and consistency with every little thing.

You haven’t thrown in many competitions this outdoor season, was that part of the plan?

I got hurt on April 22nd, right after mt. SAC. So right out of Indoor Worlds, I got a massage, a different kind of massage that I'm not used to getting. And I went out there and practiced the next day and ended up straining my pec. That was tough. It was right before Drake Relays. I was going to go and train with Crouser for a week in Arkansas, but I couldn’t really do much out there. I tried to throw and I was able to throw, but there was just too much pain.

So he tricked you into building a shot ring instead.

You saw that?! Oh man. I’m out there like, thinking this was a training camp! What does this have to do with training?! He tried to Mr. Miyagi me, man.

It was still a great experience and I'm hopeful I can go back out there this summer before we head over for some meets in Europe, and really try to take advantage of the ring I helped build.

But yeah, after that I got an MRI that showed it was a grade-2 pec strain. I was rehabbing hard, doing anything and everything I could that wouldn’t aggravate my pec. I'm not used to being home during the outdoor season. I’m used to traveling and competing, but that’s what I had to do.

I just had to wait it out until USAs with no prep meets. But I gotta give a shout out to my coach, Mike Sergent, for sticking it through and helping me out. I mean, I've dealt with injuries in the past, but for it to be coming off the year I just had, right in the middle of my season, that was real tough for me to get through. And you know, Coach is awesome. Having somebody that believes in, that really goes a long way with success.

Thank you so much to Josh for taking the time to share more about his craft with us and make sure to follow him on Instagram and to tune in at the World Championships next week!