Jillian Camarena-Williams cannot be stopped.
Despite a change in throwing style, a back injury and the stress of completing her master's thesis at Brigham Young University, the shot putter is throwing farther than any other American woman. The 30-year-old holds the American indoor and outdoor records at 65 feet, 3.75 inches and 66 feet, 2.5 inches, respectively. She's won 11 national titles since 2005 and finished third in last year's world championships, the best finish ever by an American.
Coming out of Stanford University in 2004, Camarena-Williams switched her throwing style from a gliding approach to one with a spin. At 5 foot 10, she's several inches shorter than most of the best throwers, and her coach thought the added rotation would generate more momentum. Within four months, Camarena-Williams was getting more distance than she ever did in college.
The stress of hurling a 4-kilogram (8.8-pound) ball eventually caused a herniated disc, but three months after surgery, she finished third in the 2008 Olympic Trials, qualifying for her first Olympics. She finished 12th overall. Earlier this year, she finished her master's thesis in exercise science on the ground reaction forces created during the shot put. Two weeks after defending her thesis, Camarena-Williams was back on the podium, winning her eighth consecutive U.S. indoor title.
The back injury flared up again in London during the 2012 Summer Games, though, and Camarena-Williams did not qualify for the finals. Her best attempt of 59 feet, 9 inches left her in 16th place.
We caught up with Camarena-Williams before the Games to talk about how she started, what's on her iPod and baking apple pie.
Wired: How did you get into the shot put?
Camarena-Williams: I was into everything as a kid. I played softball, I swam, and I played volleyball, basketball. My brother was our high school record holder. He was 12 years older than me. He was like, “You should try shot put. Just give it a try.” I didn’t love it, but I did it to make my brother proud. Rob Rathbun, our high school coach, had a passion for the sport and saw my potential where I didn’t.
Wired: Did you ever beat your brother?
Camarena-Williams: I have the Camarena family record, but it’s a different weight. He always puts that out there. [laughs]
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Camarena-Williams: After college I switched coaches, to Craig Carter, and I went from a glide to the spin. I looked at the girls that were gliding at the top levels and they were all 6 foot 2, 6 foot five like Valerie [Adams of New Zealand]. I am measly 5 foot 10. [laughs] A lot of men were having success in the rotation and my coach said, “I’ll take you on, but I want you to spin.” We decided to give it a year. After four months I had gone over my personal record.
Wired: How many hours a week do you train?
Camarena-Williams: Right now I’m about six hours a day, five to six times a week.
Wired: How do you stay focused before an event? What's on your iPod?
Camarena-Williams: I love anything country, so I have a lot of country music on my iPod. I love Garth Brooks. For my 30th birthday this year, my sister and I went to his concert. That was an awesome treat. But as far as staying focused, I’ve gotten to the point where I just really have fun at competitions. I try to smile a lot and joke around. Other people may be a little bit more serious. I just wanna have fun.
Wired: Your academic performance is a impressive as your athletic performance. What did you study at Stanford?
Camarena-Williams: I was a history major. I wanted to teach, and after I was done the BYU coaches recruited me to be their graduate assistant in the strength department and so I said, “Sure.”
Wired: And then grad school...
Camarena-Williams: I did my entire thesis on the shot put. We studied the reaction forces in the shot. It's really hard to study outside a lab, but it’s also hard to recreate a really good competition environment in a lab. We were trying to bridge that gap and study the forces actually happening at that time.
Wired: Why?
Camarena-Williams: There’s a lot more research being done now, a lot of the national governing bodies are really pushing the science. We do a lot more with biomechanists in our event, and there's a push to get a lot more science behind what’s going on. It might be something that I pursue when I’m done competing.
Wired: The shot is all about physics...
Camarena-Williams: Oh absolutely. It all goes back to applying physics force over distance and time. It's very interesting. It kinda gets me going in my head sometimes at practice until my coach yells, “Stop thinking about that!”
Wired: How important is it to carry weight and muscle mass, to make yourself big?
Camarena-Williams: It’s funny because we’ve done some experiments with my body weight. In 2008 I dropped about 30 pounds trying to get speed and become a really quick speed rotational thrower. I ended up having awful distances. My throwing just went in the tank. We were like, “Oh, crap. What’s going on?” When I throw my best, I’m actually at my heaviest.
Wired: Is that difficult, given the judgements people often make about a woman's size?
Camarena-Williams: It can be. It can be really difficult, especially when I was single and trying to date. People don’t quite understand it, but that’s what is so amazing about my husband. He's a buck fifty and a distance runner, a little tiny thing and but he loves me for me. It's hard sometimes when you step on the scale and you’re like, “Oh geez!” But I'm throwing far, so...
Wired: What’s the one thing you’d like people to know about your sport?
Camarena-Williams: People think we're these big brutes, these aggressive women. I can't tell you how many times people have said to my husband, "Don’t tick her off. She’ll beat you up." But it's not about brute strength. Yes, you have to be strong. But there’s a lot of finesse to the event, timing and speed and grace. There's a lot more to this than just beastly women.
Wired: But is it hard to get past that stereotype?
Camarena-Williams: Yes. It's frustrating. I’m very strong, I’m very built but I’m not mean. [laughs] I mean, I love to sew! I'm a big sewer and baker. I’ve made purses and pillows. When my husband and I were dating I made him a cross-stitch pillow with all of the universities he’s worked at. So yeah, I am so mean. And I make a really good apple pie.
