Southern Olympians: Alabama High School Coach Curtis Thompson Is Aiming For Gold In Javelin

Curtis Thompson is a four-time U.S. National champion in javelin, a Pan-American Games champion, a two-time NCAA champion and this week he’s competing in Paris in his second Olympics as a member of Team U.S.A. But, as he told Southern Living just before he left for France, this is a career that began really by chance. 

“Football was my passion at first and I just did track and field to get faster at football as I was going into my freshman year of high school,” Thompson said. 

“One day I just didn’t feel like running. So I decided to walk over there to the throws area and I just asked the coach, ‘can I throw that stick thing?’ and he was like that’s a javelin. He said sure. So I gave it a try and kinda fell in love with it.” 

After his junior year of high school, Thompson stopped playing football and had pivoted to focus entirely on track and field, and specifically on javelin. For this shift, he was rewarded with a scholarship to college. That is what brought Thompson from his home state of New Jersey to the South. He accepted the scholarship offer from Mississippi State and headed down to Starkville. 

Thompson had a stellar career as a college athlete but after graduation, he had to make a decision about whether or not he would pursue javelin professionally. Ultimately he decided he did want to continue throwing javelin. This took him to Birmingham, Alabama, to train with USA Javelin Project. The group gave him a new set of training partners, teammates, and a way to continue to stay in competition condition. What it didn’t provide was a paycheck. “When I got here, first thing you have to figure out is how are you going to pay bills, pay your rent, pay for food and gas, what are you going to do?” 

For the first few years he worked for a tree service company alongside one of his teammates and he really enjoyed it. But it’s a very physically demanding job that he would start early in the morning, work until mid afternoon and then he would go train. He transitioned out of that job when he started substitute teaching at Spain Park High School. Eventually he joined the track and field coaching team. 

“The Spain Park staff, the head coach, and the other coaching staff, everybody there, they were really understanding about what I had going on. They knew that I was still training. They knew I was trying out for Olympic Games. And they were just like, whatever time that you have available that you can provide for the throwers, it would be more beneficial than not having anybody at all.”

The two-time Olympian went on to say that this stuck with him. He was more than ready to step in and provide consistent guidance for these students. “So for me it’s just a matter of giving these athletes as much time as I can. Normally it will be from about 3-4:30 p.m. every day. It gets a little tricky when the season comes around because their season is my season as well.”

But the dedicated coach makes it work. “They’ll be times where I can coach them all week but when it came time for a meet. I’d have to leave and go to my meet and they would go to theirs. So I really just try to prepare them as much as I can leading up to that meet so they feel ready and prepared to compete. And I knew they were ready and prepared to compete as best they could.”

“So the kids, they’re awesome. They 100% understood what I had going on. I’d like to think they think it was cool,” he said with a laugh. 

It may be a common misconception that Olympic athletes are all rich and famous. But the truth is, Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky are more the exception than the rule. Most of Team USA’s can’t afford to compete or to pay their bills without a job outside of their sport. Many work two to three jobs to make ends meet. But, instead of just a means to an end kind of job, Thompson has chosen a path with a purpose. Being Coach Thompson ensures the future of his sport. He is helping to create a new generation of javelin throwers, or at the very least, future adults who will support the sport. 

“It’s definitely exciting to be able to help out in that way. I’ve gotten to experience and see the different levels of interest in this sport from the youth. And to be able to push them to either love it more, as much as I have, or just to learn life experiences outside of it that they can tether together. Or just give them something that they can enjoy to be around friends and good people. That’s been pretty exciting to see.”

Make no mistake though, Thompson gets as much out of coaching as he gives. “I just learned for the biggest part, is that they have fun pretty much all the time. I try to keep that atmosphere to where they can always have fun no matter what you’re going through. It reminds me that you can take this very, very, seriously but you can also have fun at the same time.”

You can join the students at Spain Park in cheering on Curtis Thompson when javelin competition begins Tuesday, August 6.