LDS shot-putter centered in gospel
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Jillian Camarena is an Olympic hopeful. The reigning female U.S. outdoor and indoor champion in the shot put, she competed on Aug. 26 in Paris, France, for Team USA in the DecaNation, a competition similar to the decathlon but with individuals in each event.
Helping Team USA pull out a first-place victory with 104.5 points over second-place Germany, she has her eyes set on Beijing in 2008.
But there is one thing that sets her apart from many athletes today. She is a Latter-day Saint who finds her standards in the gospel — and drug-use is so far from her realm of thinking and training that it's "never been an issue for me."
Even when her throw jumped four feet this year, other athletes did not question her despite many other athletes' reported drug use. They knew she was a Latter-day Saint.
"Athletics and what I'm going toward (in the Olympics) is not all I have in my life," Jillian, a member of the BYU 206th Ward, BYU 21st Stake, said during a telephone conversation as she prepared for Paris. "I have my family and the gospel and I understand what life is and what it's about. The gospel has always been the center. It has always been something that's kept me focused."
Focus is no trouble for the former Stanford University athlete. This past June, she threw the shot put 62-32 (meaning 62 feet, 32 inches) to win the U.S. Outdoor Championships in Indianapolis, Ind. Last February, she won the U.S. Indoor Championships in Boston, Mass., with a throw of 63 feet.
Her improvement in distance came as her coach had her switch from a glide technique to a spinning technique, much like throwing a discus. It obviously worked.
Jillian is also working toward her master's degree in exercise science at BYU. She comes from Woodland, Calif., where her parents, Marvin and Marilyn Camarena, live.
E-mail to: julied@desnews.com
