Table of Contents
Who is Joe Kovacs?
Finish lines do not exist for throwers.” Joe Kovacs, a shot put competitor from the United States, lives by this saying. Similarly, he has competed and dominated against records achieved by contemporaries as well as himself.
His personal best is 21.46 meters indoors and 22.91 meters outdoors.
Furthermore, Kovacs is regarded as one of the top shotput athletes on the planet.
Kovacs is a two-time World Championship gold medalist, having won gold in 2015 and 2019.
Similarly, he took silver in the 2017 World Championships.
He has competed in two Olympics, winning a silver medal in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
He is fully prepared for the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021.
Joe Kovacs’s Childhood and Family
Joe Kovacs was born in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, on June 28, 1989.
Joseph Kovacs and Joanna Kovacs raised him as their only child.
Both Joseph and Joanna were teachers. Joanna was also an athlete who was a huge supporter and coach for her son’s career.
The Active Mother-Son Team
Joanna was also interested in the field and track.
She was a district throwing champion in the shot put, discus, and javelin 12 times.
Similarly, her mother enjoyed hockey and basketball while attending Nazareth High School in Pennsylvania.
Joanna was an outstanding athlete who was named the school’s Ideal Female Athlete in 1983.
She continued her education at East Stroudsburg University, where she met Joseph Kovacs.
In December 1985, the pair fell in love and married.
Joanna began coaching her son after she noticed him throwing poorly.
She didn’t want her son to perform incorrectly in the sport she previously mastered.
The Family Tragedy
Joseph Kovacs was diagnosed with colon cancer at the age of 33, which his family discovered.
He underwent surgery only to learn that cancer had already spread.
From this time, he lived for less than six months.
All of the family’s savings were invested in his alternative treatment, which was only available in Mexico or Germany.
When their son Joe was just seven years old, the family moved to Germany, influenced by Joanna’s half-Bavarian heritage.
Before heading to the hospital, the Kovacs couple and their kid went to church every day to spend time with German priests.
Joe’s father received no treatment because no effort was made.
After being in a coma for two months, he died of cancer on July 14, 1997.
Joe recalls not being able to figure out what was going on.
He was aware of his father’s absence but always assumed he would return.
Joe and Joanna left Germany the next morning, only to learn that Joanna’s mother had died as a result of complications from a heart attack she had earlier.
Joe’s age made it difficult for him to process everything.
Joanna remained alone for over 15 years, devoting her time, attention, and resources to her only child.
She believes her child inherited her competitive nature.
Joe’s grooming
Joe’s mother believed that her son required male influences in his life to learning things from a different perspective than his mother.
She was concerned about raising her child in the proper setting.
Joe’s three maternal uncles, guys from Church and Glenn Thompson, who subsequently became a throwing coach, taught him and took him to football games and fishing.
Above all, Joe and Joanna have always shared a sincere and lovely bond.
Joe Kovacs – Education and Sports
Joe attended Bethlehem Catholic High School, where he participated in a variety of sports.
He used to be a good offensive lineman.
He also attended Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science, where he participated in all-state track and football.
Joe was also a quick learner and an exceptional student.
He received four blue ribbons in a science competition at the Pennsylvania State Fair, which his mother still has.
Joey used to be the school champion in the discus and shot throw when he graduated from high school in 2007.
He also authored history for the Bethlehem Catholic, for which he received two gold awards.
Also, while at high school camp, Joe had the opportunity to meet shot put champion, Reese Hoffa.
Hoof advised Joe that because he was too short to glide, he spin instead.
Joe took Hoffa’s advice and adjusted his technique.
University
Kovacs graduated from Penn State University.
He graduated in 2011 after majoring in Earth Science and Finance.
He envisaged himself as a university student going into either of these two disciplines, but not shot putting.
Joe was a four-time All-American in college.
During his freshman year, he was coached by Danna Wagner.
T.J. Crater at Penn State University also mentored him.
Joe was wearing his Penn State jersey to the 2012 US Olympic Trials.
He threw a personal best and came in fourth place.
He couldn’t make it to the team, but he remembers being the happiest person in the room at the time.
Professional Experience
Joe then began studying under famed UCLA coach Art Venegas, whom he met in late 2012.
Finally, in January 2013, he landed at the Chula Vista Olympic Training Center.
His coach particularly chose the training center considering its optimal facilities, housing, nutrition programs, weight room, sports science, and personnel.
Joe and Art hit it off right away, and their collaboration was a smashing success.
Joe improved his personal best from 69 to 74 feet thanks to Art’s guidance.
He learned many more abilities from Art.
He won the gold medal at the 2015 IAAF World Championships, for example.
Similarly, he won the Diamond League Championship in 2015.
Joe also took silver at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and the 2017 IAAF World Championship.
Similarly, Kovacs broke the 22-meter barrier for the first time in 2014, winning the United States Championship on the grounds of the California State Capitol in Sacramento, California.
In 2014, he became the world’s only thrower to achieve 22 meters.
Furthermore, in 2015, he improved to 22.35.
Joe won the World Athletics Championships for the second time in 2019, following his success in 2015.
He also took silver in the 2017 World Championship.
Joe Kovacs Kovacs is a wife, lover, and coach
Ashley Muffet was an assistant coach at Ohio State University.
Joe relocated to Columbus, Ohio, in the fall of 2017 with the intention of training there.
He proposed to Ashley in the following months, and she approved.
The pair married in Ashley’s hometown of North Canton, Ohio, in November 2018.
Ashley, who is also a coach, was important in Joe’s training.
But fate had other plans and appointed Ashley Joe as her official coach.
The Ups and Downs
Joe contemplated retiring from shot put eight months before competing in the 2019 World Championship in Doha, Qatar.
He gathered his family, which included Ashley, his mother Joanna, and his stepfather, and pondered the issue.
Finally, his family stated that if he is certain of resigning, they will back his decision.
Joe had recently thrown a 19.52m in a tournament in Ohio when the family got together in February 2019.
They became concerned about Joe’s throwing and his general well-being.
Everyone assumed Joe needed a new coach.
This time, it had to be someone who understood Joe on a granular level and knew when and when to press and when to back off.
The youngster who was first coached by his mother needs a coach with the same level of compassion and understanding.
This could only be his wife.
Olympics 2020 – Joe Kovacs (in 2021)
When the Olympics 2020 were postponed to 2021 due to Covid-19, the Kovacs pair clarified their strategy.
The main goal was to stay in shape.
They didn’t talk about throwing for a few months and instead enjoyed playing golf.
The couple subsequently made a serious move, preparing for the Olympics as best they could.
They used Joe’s silver medal from Rio as a motivator to push him to train harder than ever before.
Joe recalls the time when he returned home with a silver medal.
He was not satisfied, though, because he recognized that he was capable of gold but fell short.
All Joe could think about in the final months before the Olympics 2021 began was winning gold this time.
Similarly, Joe and his coach/wife Ashley aspire to return from the Olympics with a gold medal in 2021.
Joe Kovacs has our best wishes.
Also, read Adonis Medina, Rasheed Wallace, Tomas Walsh
Joe Kovacs’s net worth
Kovacs enjoys a comfortable American lifestyle with his wife, Ashley.
He has worked really hard, and his efforts have paid off.
JOE KOVACS’S NET WORTH IS ESTIMATED TO BE IN THE $1-$5 MILLION RANGE.
Online Presence
Kovacs maintains a presence on social media.
