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Vikas Shive Gowda
International Track and Field Athlete ; India Discus Player

Medal Record
• 2004 (Athens), 2008 (Beijing), 2012 (London), 2016 (Rio de Janeiro) Olympian
• 2006 NCAA Discus Championship
• 2012 Olympic Finalist (8 place)
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• 2014 Commonwealth Games Gold, 2010 Commonwealth Games Silver Medalist
• 2014 Asian Games Silver Medalist, 2010 Asian Games Bronze Medalist
• 2013 and 2015 Asian Championships Gold Medalist, 2011 and 2005 Asian
Championship Silver Medalist, 2017 Asian Championships Bronze Medalist
• 2010 Rajyotsava Awardee
• 2011 Arjuna Awardee
• 2017 Padma Shri Awardee

As a native of Mysore, India, I was fortunate to be raised with values that I will use for
life. My dad Shive Gowda coached the 1988 Indian Olympic track team. Even though my
parents came to the USA with very little, through hard work and resolve they were able
to succeed and contribute to their communities. These are the values they instilled in my
brother and me. Many kids are not fortunate to have such role models in their lives, and
it provided my brother and me a great deal of motivation.

I grew up in Frederick, Maryland. I got my Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It was here that I won the NCAA championship
in discus in 2006. This was a big stepping stone to entering the international world of
sports. I had competed in two Olympics. However, my progress had stalled, and I was
not performing at the level I wanted to be at. I was working harder and harder, but not
seeing much improvement. Then I had an epiphany and realized that just working hard
does not guarantee success. I needed to incorporate other methods in order to achieve
what I wanted to. As a result, I restructured my training philosophy.
I sought guidance and started to learn different techniques and training models. After
this change, I started to see the improvement I was looking for. In 2012, I made the
Olympic Final in London for the first time. I also won Gold in the Commonwealth Games
(Glasgow) in 2014, 56 years after Milka Singh won his. With this new approach, I was
able to maintain a top 10 world ranking for many years.

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