Rod Ewaliko (born April 18, 1954) is an American track and field athlete known for the Javelin throw. He was the 1983 National Champion[1] and won the 1980 Olympic Trials[2] to become a member of the team that did not participate in the Olympics due to the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott. He was one of 461 athletes to receive a Congressional Gold Medal instead.[3] Ewaliko would finish in second place in the National Championships five times.[4] He threw in two other Olympic Trials, finishing sixth in 1976 and was unable to land a legal throw in the finals of 1984.[5]
Ewaliko represented the United States in several international competitions, finishing fourth in the 1977 and 1981World Cup, sixth at the 1979 Pan American Games, and eleventh at the 1983 World Championships.[4] He represented Athletics West. He threw collegially for the University of Washington where he was one of the four U of W athletes to sweep the throwing events at the 1976 Pac-10 Championships, a feat that has not been duplicated.[6] His personal best of 90.66 m (297 ft 5 in), thrown at UCSB on February 25, 1984 ranks as the 41st best effort with the old style javelin.[7]
^Caroccioli, Tom; Caroccioli, Jerry (2008). Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Highland Park, IL: New Chapter Press. pp. 243–253. ISBN978-0942257403.
The 1920, 1928, 1932, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 championships incorporated the Olympic Trials, otherwise held as a discrete event.
2020 OT: The 2020 Olympic Trials were delayed and held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Notes
Kenneth Churchill had the longest throw in the 1932 competition (which doubled as the Olympic Trials), ahead of Malcolm Metcalf. However, Churchill qualified for the final only due to a late rule change by the U.S. Olympic Committee, allowing eight rather than five finalists. As this rule change applied only to the Olympic Trials, Churchill is considered to have won at the Trials and Metcalf at the national championships, even though they were the same meet.
