Joe Kovacs on Winning Gold, Nearly Quitting the Sport, Being Coached By His Wife

"In 2012, I was at the Diamond League at Crystal Palace and then a few weeks later was the actual Olympics. I was walking by and there was a William Hill betting shop. I saw my name on a ticker go by. It was weird. It was my name so I went in and I asked the guy if it was for the Diamond League. He said no and that it was for the Olympics. I said, “Sir, there’s something wrong there because I’m not in the Olympics.” He pulled up the thing and said, ‘Here, I’ll tell you why…’ Statistically, I was No. 7 to win the Olympics on the odds. That didn’t make sense. I’m not there. He said, “Your odds are better to have an American get hurt, you replace them and you win, than guy No. 8, 9, 10…” Just because in the U.S., we are that good in the shot put and our world rankings are that good. That’s one of the reasons that I thought, ‘Man, if my odds are that good to actually be there.’ I have to keep on training. When it comes to betting, it’s a weird motivation but I’ll never forget seeing my name coming across and thinking, ‘Maybe I could keep doing this.’ Thankfully, Joe Kovacs stuck with the sport. The 2019 world champion joins the podcast to share every detail about his rise in the sport including the highs of winning gold but also the lows, which included getting dropped by Nike and nearly quitting after the 2018 season. On this show, we cover: - The taboo conversations of track and field financials - Being coached by his wife, Ashley - How she helped fix the 2018 Joe Kovacs - The physics behind a great thrower - Was that the loudest scream that he's ever let out - Will the WR soon go down? - How much does a shot putter like him eat, drink and lift + Much more... ❤️ Support for this episode of the CITIUS MAG Podcast comes from THE FEED. You can curate your own package of product to support your training or try the CITIUS MAG package for yourself. There’s a great variety of options for drink mixes, food, chews, gels. It’s been a game-changer. Head over to thefeed.com to save 15% on a box curated by yours truly (the thefeed.com/citiusmag) or use the code CITIUS10 to save 10% on everything else storewide. ❤️ Also, protect your legs, nipples and arms with SQUIRREL'S NUT BUTTER. You can use promo code CITIUS20 for 20% off on all their anti-chafing products on their website. squirrelsnutbutter.com/ today. ▶ Follow us: twitter.com/CitiusMag instagram.com/citiusmag facebook.com/citiusmag ✩ Connect with Chris twitter.com/ChrisChavez instagram.com/chris_j_chavez 👔Biz Inquiries/Write Us: chris@citiusmag.com