Deanna Price: From Southern Illinois to Olympic medal contender in hammer throw

Deanna Price was still growing comfortable with her identity as a hammer thrower when she stepped onto Southern Illinois' campus as a freshman in 2011.

But it didn't stop her from dreaming about the Olympics.

Despite committing fully to track and field just a year earlier, leaving behind her identity as an all-state high school softball player in the process, Price started talking with her fellow Saluki freshman teammates about the upcoming 2012 London Games. Then they threw out a lofty thought that at the time sounded like fantasy: What if they could make the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro after they graduated?

It's no fantasy now.

With a throw of 73.79 on Sunday in front of a roaring Paris crowd of more than 80,000 at Stade de France, Price advanced to her third straight Olympic hammer throw final. She comes into Tuesday's final with perhaps her best shot yet of bringing home her first Olympic medal. On Sunday, she looked back fondly on her days competing at Southern Illinois and understood why she was in this position.

"That's where my journey started," Price said gleefully when asked about her alma mater. "I love being a dawg. I like Southern because it's a midmajor and you're always the underdog. … I like that mentality. I like being the underdog.

The label suited her when she first stepped onto the Southern Illinois campus. While her all-state selection in softball provided her credibility it the sport, she was still building a reputation as a thrower.

Other teammates had competed for state championships over multiple seasons and were named most valuable players on their teams, but Price's best high school moment came in her senior year after fully committing to the sport, placing second in discus and sixth in shot put at the Missouri high school state championship.

But at Southern Illinois, she found herself surrounded by people who could show her the path to stardom.

Head coach Connie Price-Smith was a four-time Olympian to whom Price could relate. After completing her basketball eligibility as a senior, Price-Smith turned her attention to the track for the first time with spectacular results. Despite competing for only one season, she posted throws in the discus and shot put that ranked among the top five in school history. In 1992, she became the first U.S. woman in 32 years to win the shot put and discus at an Olympic trials. In 1996, she missed an Olympic shot put bronze medal by only 4½ inches — though her fifth-place finish was still the highest by an American woman since 1960.

Price also had Southern Illinois All-American and future Olympian Gwen Berry training on campus. And then there was the blond-haired Southern Illinois thrower on the men's side, J.C. Lambert, a five-time All-American at Southern Illinois. Price eventually married him and named Lambert the coach for her international career.

Together, those influences helped shape the underdog freshman into a future Olympian.

"I had some great mentors (at Southern Illinois) that led me to where I am," Price said. "I was never the best one. And I wanted just to keep fighting to be one of the best. That's what got me to where I am."

And where she is now is a member on an elite list.

She finished her Salukis career by winning back-to-back collegiate hammer throw championships in 2015 and 2016, and she continued adding her name to elite accomplishments. Her 80.31-meter hammer throw during the 2021 Olympic trials set the current American record and ranked her as the No. 2 women's thrower in history. She then set the world indoor weight throw record last year with a 26.02-meter throw.

About the only thing her resume lacks is an Olympic medal. While she holds gold and bronze medals from the world championships in the last five years, she finished eighth in the Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo Games.

This time, though, momentum may be on her side.

She'll enter Friday's round with the world's No. 3 ranking, the second-longest personal best throw in the field, and the second-longest throw this year (77.16 meters). It's bringing her within reach of expanding on her freshman dream of making an Olympic team, and potentially changing her identity again.

Because this time, she's no longer the underdog.