Colorado Champions Road to Gold: Kara Winger comes out of retirement after 4 Olympic appearances
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- It was a busy June for one Colorado Springs Olympian. In a matter of weeks, javelin thrower, Kara Winger, came out of retirement and almost qualified for her 5th games. And even though she fell short at Olympic Trials, she showed KRDO her other passions outside of sport.
Piano practice and a pup who likes to sing. These days Kara Winger and dog Maddie, are enjoying the simpler things in life.
"I am just really enjoying the flexibility of my life currently," says Winger.
Winger is a star track and field athlete in the javelin throw.
"I like to tell people that I like, I was never really the best until I was, but I just kept doing my best. I was 3-time state champion, but I didn't throw super super far," says Winger.
And she did make a comeback this summer. Winger finished among the top three at trials, but she didn't meet the Olympic standard. Even though she's missing Paris, she still has four Olympic appearances on her resume.
"I was very young in 2008, very injured in 2012, very close to my dreams in 2016 and then 2021 was just more than I ever could have expected for so many reasons that don't have any reason to do with my performance," says Winger.
That moment at the 2021 summer games was a career highlight. She was voted by her fellow teammates and other Team USA athletes to carry the American flag in the closing ceremony.
"We all deserve to be that flag bearer, right," says Winger. "Like every single person has a story that is unbelievable to a lot of people and the messages that I got from fellow non-medalists were the most important. That they said Kara this vote, this peer vote by thousands of people makes my experience as a non-medalist more valid. It just feels so cool for somebody who just showed up and did their best but the world doesn't know about to represent all the Olympians from the U.S. So I will never ever top that experience in my entire life. I cannot not cry about it."
She left the game in 2022, months after winning a silver medal in the world championships. After throwing the javelin for the better part of 2 decades, Winger says the sport will always be close to her heart as she explores what comes next.
"It's okay for the transition to take a little while when you did something for 20 years," says Winger. "So I am really working hard to give myself grace on like what do I want to do if it's hang out with my dog and go outside with my husband I am really fine with that. I found javelin so early that it is unrealistic to figure something else out immediately and I know a lot more about what I don't want to do than I did when I stopped throwing."
