Olympic Gold Medalist in the Discus!
… Stephanie Brown Trafton took her place at the head of the American team with a surprising gold medal in the discus, the first by an American woman since 1932 and the only medal of any color since 1984. Hers was a dream spawned when she was 4 years old and watching the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics at her home in Arroyo Grande, Calif. Back then, she wanted to be a gymnast.
Now 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds at age 28, Brown Trafton has found a more fitting route to Olympic glory.
“I want to meet Mary Lou Retton, so please, someone hook me up,”Brown Trafton said.”She was my idol. I had a leotard like hers but I got too big to be a gymnast.”…
“I hope this gives all the kids in high school and college the confidence that they can medal in the Olympics,”Brown Trafton said.”Myself, I have a great physique to be a thrower, long and lean. I’m going to get stronger and hopefully I’ll stay injury free.”
Brown Trafton is a bit of a throwback to the Olympics of old. For one, she has a job, working as a project manager for Sycamore Environmental Consulting in Sacramento. She trains in almost complete anonymity….
I think the training in anonymity thing is probably over now! Congrats to Stephanie Brown Taylor.
–Ann Bartow
