Glenn Thompson

M40-49
Glenn Thompson
Track and field
Harrisburg, Pa.

There is a common dream among Masters athletes: that they find themselves -- through technique, practice or lucky genes -- champions at a sport in which they were once also-rans. Glenn Thompson, shot putter, discus thrower and hammer thrower, is living that dream. "There's no doubt about it," he said with a laugh. "I have my eyes on some records. I maybe wasn't the best when I was younger, but maybe I can outlast the other guys."

Thompson, 44, won three gold medals at the USA Masters Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Orono, Maine, in August 2007. He won the shot put (54 feet, 1/2 inch), discus (165 feet, 8 inches), and the weight throw (50 feet, 5-1/2 inches).

Thompson became a thrower as a freshman in high school. He won a district championship and qualified for the state finals, "I don't recall how far I threw or what place I came in," he said. He also threw in college at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania. He remembers finishing 8th or 9th in the country in Division II.

Unlike many of his peers, Thompson kept throwing. He developed a passion for the sport. "It's you against the tape measure," he said. "There are no excuses. It's a very objective way to judge yourself."

As he grew older, he worked on his technique, abandoning the slide step for a spin technique. It has paid off in constant improvement. He threw his personal best in the shot put (61 feet, 3 inches) at age 36. "My best in college was 55 feet, 7 inches," Thompson said. The same with the discus. He threw his personal best of 180 feet, 4 inches last year. In college, his best was about 163 feet.

Beyond working on his own technique, Thompson coaches high school throwers around Harrisburg. His students have competed at UCLA and Arizona State, and he has a high school senior headed to Penn State. Despite a full-time job as a reporting analyst for an insurance company, Thompson is the publisher of Long and Strong, a magazine for throwers and Highland Games aficionados.