1 Utahn doing discus in the Paralympics with another commentating

Utah's David Blair (center) winning gold five years ago on the discus in the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. His result was not able to be repeated in the Tokyo 2020 Games. Photo: ParalympicsGB

TOKYO, Japan. — David Blair, born and raised in Utah, is the gold medalist in the discus from the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. He has three silver medals in three world championships and one world’s bronze from throwing the shot-put.

Blair, 45, was born in Ogden, graduated from Davis High School in Kaysville in ’93, graduated college from Weber State University in Ogden in ’99 and currently resides in Eagle Mountain, Utah.

Two of Blair’s Tokyo competitors today represented Great Britain, one from Croatia, one Estonia and the remaining of the field of six men in the final also represented Team USA. The two US athletes held the two top records before today’s Tokyo comp began.

Blair competes in the classification of F44 with his club foot for which he had surgical treatments as a child at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Salt Lake City.

Driving rain deposited pools of standing water onto the field of play during the discus. Even if there were spectators allowed in the stadium due to the pandemic, the inclement weather was something rarely seen in this sport. One athlete from Great Britain was a Did Not Start (DNS).

Blair’s first throw resulted in a scratch, his second put a respectable number on the board but the preparation for his third throw took an inordinate amount of time as he utilized big, white towels, not unlike the ones from a hotel, to attempt to sop up some of the rain. Once Blair started that recognizable spinning to generate power, his legs, one of which has an exoskeleton on his lower leg and ankle with limited range of motion or articulation to provide corrective stability, simply swept out from underneath him sending him banking, slipping, crashing and splashing to the ground.

He got right up, was physically all right, shook off the fall and the water and immediately approached the official standing right there, clad in a rain poncho from head to toe. Blair was able to talk his way into a do-over of that one, third-round throw within the Paralympic finals with the extenuating circumstances. Once he got the chance to throw again, Blair’s slippery discus, which also needed to be extensively towel dried-off went up and out and into the close protective side netting giving him no points on the throw. 

Utah’s Blair ended up in fourth place in the end with his best distance a 53.18 meters. The athlete representing Great Britain threw his discus for the bronze medal, the athlete representing Croatia took silver and Team USA’s Jeremy Campbell won the gold with a discus distance of 60.22 meters. Blair’s sportsmanship towards his teammate after a tough personal loss was evident as Blair gave Campbell a congratulatory bear hug lifting him off the ground as both Americans smiled ear to ear.

The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) reports that he won the high school state championships against able-bodied athletes before setting several school records and earning two collegiate conference titles in the hammer throw. Blair retired from athletics for 16 years, got married, and started a family which now includes four daughters before learning that he was Paralympic-eligible.  

Blair, who contracted COVID-19 last winter, has been a Boy Scout growing up in Utah.

Hometown watch parties are the name of the game during the pandemic in the absolute absence of spectators. 

Seven-time Winter and Summer Paralympic 12-time medalist, Park City’s Chris Waddell, is providing live commentary for NBC for all the Track and Field disciplines including Blair’s discus event taking place in Tokyo’s National Stadium where the Olympic and Paralympic cauldron burns bright. Via the National Ability Center (NAC) in Park City, where this winter’s adaptive sports participation registration is now open, he’s a retired athlete in alpine ski racing and wheelchair athletics. Waddell co-commentated the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Opening Ceremony.

Additionally on the track, a Paralympic proposal took place yesterday when a male running guide got down on one knee and asked his female athlete who has a visual impairment to marry him. They had, moments ago, also in the rain, narrowly missed out on qualifying into their final running race. The rest of the Cape Verde nationals’ international competitors stood inches away, close enough to hear as the athletes did not have the luxury of sight. She said yes.