C. J. Hunter

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Medal record
Men’s athletics
World Championships
Gold	1999 Sevilla	Shot put
Bronze	1997 Athens	Shot put

Cottrell J. Hunter, III (born December 14, 1968, in Washington, D.C.) is a former American shot putter and coach. He was the 1999 World Champion, but is perhaps best known for his involvement in the BALCO scandal and as the onetime spouse of sprinter Marion Jones. His personal best was 71' 9", thrown during a 2nd place finish in the 2000 U.S. Olympic trials.

The 6'1", 330 lb Hunter was a three-time All-American at Penn State University, where he still holds the outdoor and indoor shot put record (65'5" and 64'4½", or 19.93 m and 19.62 m respectively). He earned his Bachelor of Arts in political science there in 1991. Hunter first began throwing shot put after repeatedly failing to make the basketball team at Hyde Park, New York's Franklin D. Roosevelt Senior High School.

Hunter met Jones in 1998, while a coach with the University of North Carolina track team. He resigned his position there to conform with school rules that prohibited coach-athlete dating. They married on October 3, 1998, only to divorce in 2002 following the publicity surrounding the BALCO scandal. Hunter currently resides in Apex, North Carolina with his two children from a previous marriage, Ahny and Cory. He is currently an assistant coach at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh.