Kate Schmidt

Kate Schmidt carries the weight of an era for me. A former world-record holder in the javelin, she took bronze at both the 1972 and 1976 Olympics, launching the spear from a commanding 186 cm frame. What lingers is the heartbreak of 1980: she qualified, then never got to throw because of the boycott, a stark reminder of how politics can rob athletes of their moment. A Long Beach native and UCLA alumna, she came up through a classic American track pipeline. Records get broken, but the pride of competing in that golden age endures, and she has my quiet applause.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Name (English)

Kate Schmidt

Name (Japanese)

ケイト・シュミット

Reading

けいと・しゅみっと

Born

December 29, 1953 (age 72)

Origin

Long Beach, California, United States

Height

186 cm

Occupation

javelin thrower

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Capricorn / Snake

High school

Woodrow Wilson Classical High School

University

University of California, Los Angeles

• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate%20Schmidt
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B1%E3%82%A4%E3%83%88%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A5%E3%83%9F%E3%83%83%E3%83%88
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q442320

Tags

• California
• javelin thrower

Last updated

September 18, 2026

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.