Four-time US Olympian and 2012 World Indoor High Jump champion, Chaunté Lowe, is taking a new path in her journey as she retires from track and field.
The 38-year-old is a winner of 12 indoor and outdoor National Titles and still holds the North American record of 2.05m for the outdoor high jump event and 2.02m for the indoor high jump event.
In 2004, Lowe made her first major championship debut at the age of 20 for team US, where she won the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCCA) titles for the indoor and outdoor events.
Lowe went on to set her Personal Best (PB) of 1.98m that year and finished second at the US Olympic trials to book a spot for the US team ahead of the Athens Games.
Although Lowe did not reach the Olympic final in 2004 she equalled her PB of 2.00m to take silver at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki.
Lowe kept on getting better and increased her PB to 2.01m in 2006, but the year thereafter she took maternity leave and gave birth to her first daughter, Jasmine.
She returned in 2008 and claimed bronze at the Beijing Olympics ending her year with a season best of 2.00m. In 2010, she earned World Indoor bronze in DOHA and set the North American outdoor records of 2.04m and 2.05m at the US Championship.
In 2011, she gave birth to her second daughter, Aurora, and returned to action two months after to place ninth at the US Championship with 1.78m.
Lowe then broke the North American indoor record with 2.02m in February 2012 just 10 months after giving birth and 2 weeks later, she went on to win the World Indoor title in Istanbul.
After winning the US Olympic trials in 2012 with a season best of 2.01m, she was placed fifth at the London Olympics with 1.97m. In 2013 her son Mario was born and she sat out that season before returning to competition in 2014, that year Lowe won another US title and a second place at the Continental Cup.
In 2015, she earned National titles for the indoor and outdoor event, followed by the 2016 US Olympic trials with a season best of 2.01m securing her place for the fourth time in the US Olympic team.
Lowe jumped her best of 1.97m at the Rio Olympics and was placed fourth. She competed internationally in 2017, but in 2018 she discovered a lump in her breast, which was initially misdiagnosed, however in 2019 doctors confirmed that she had triple negative breast cancer.
After Lowe underwent a double mastectomy and months of chemotherapy, she was finally cancer free in 2021.
In recent years, Lowe has been involved in public speaking, giving motivational talks on the importance of perseverance: “Being able to take my medal and go and speak to kids and student athletes has been an amazing turning point in my life that has brought me way more joy than ever getting the medal.
“Don’t give up doing things the right way pursuing your goals with integrity and finding was to over obstacles,” Lowe concluded.
Photo 1 Caption: Four-time US Olympian and 2012 World Indoor High Jump champion, Chaunté Lowe, is taking a new path in her journey as she retires from track and field. Photo: Chaunté Louw (Instagram)