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Given his outstanding accomplishments both on and off the track, Brian Chaput’s lofty athletic goals should come as no surprise to anyone. “I am excited to start the 2005 season and begin the quest to realize my Olympic dream,” says Brian. “I want to medal at the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing, China .”
Following a stellar high school career where he was a two-time All-American, the East Haven, CT, native and University of Pennsylvania graduate enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2003, winning the NCAA Javelin Championship with a throw of 78.69 meters, and placing sixth at the U.S. Championships. With these results, Brian firmly established himself not only as an elite track and field athlete in the U.S., but also as a world-class competitor in the Javelin.
In 2004, Brian was poised to defend his NCAA title and earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic team for the summer games in Athens. However, a series of injuries throughout the year set him back. Despite all this, he managed to place second at both the NCAA Championships and the U.S. Olympic trials, just missing a second consecutive NCAA title and a place on the 2004 Olympic team.
After the 2004 season, Brian set a goal to cut his world ranking of 34 in half each year for the next four years, which would put him in the Top 2 by 2008. The 2005 season started off strong, with 6 of his first 7 meets over 78m and 2 over 80m, pushing his PB to 80.45m. However, an unfortunate and untimely injury at the Reebok Grand Prix meet in NYC ended Brian's season a few weeks prior to the US Championships and subsequent world meets. Brian underwent a highly successful reconstructive elbow surgery in June, and remains focused on the goals at hand. "While the injury came at a bad time, the rehab process has been ahead of schedule and my goals have not changed: to win successive US Championships and medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China", says Brian. He ends the 2005 season ranked 16th in the World, less than half of his season-starting rank of 34.
“My goals are ambitious, but I also think they are attainable,” he said.
Brian’s academic performance has been every bit as good as his athletic career. In May 2004, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with honors and two degrees ¾ one in Psychology and one in Communication of Behavior. In addition to being ranked sixth all-time among American collegiate javelin throwers, Brian was named the 2004 USTCA NCAA Division I Scholar Athlete of the Year and earned Academic All-America honors for three straight seasons (2002-2004). When he has accomplished all of his goals in track and field, Brian plans to use his education to pursue a career in Industrial/Organizational Psychology or Marketing Management.
To help offset the cost of his training, Brian currently works part-time as a Project Manager at a marketing consulting firm in Philadelphia. However, financial support from U.S. Athletic Trust is critical in enabling Brian to fulfill his Olympic dream.
"This past season (2005) was bittersweet," Brian says. "Despite the injury, I got a taste of where I can be in the next few years. I have also been able to use my down-time from surgery in a valuable fashion, working to hone technical flaws in my technique that with correction will make be a better javelin thrower. I believe that if I maintain the progress I have seen to date and minimize technical flaws, I will be in a great position to medal at the 2008 Olympics." |
