Photo courtesy of Curtis Thompson.
Spain Park throws coach Curtis Thompson poses on the Seine River at the Olympics opening ceremony in Paris.
As 2024 draws to a close, we’re highlighting some of the top newsmakers from the 280 area from this year as part of our Newsmaker of the Year series. Today, we’re announcing our Newsmaker of the Year: Curtis Thompson.
As our newsmaker of the year, we wanted to recognize someone who put in the work to fulfill a dream and make the local community proud. Spain Park coach Curtis Thompson made his second Olympic appearance over the summer. The amount of dedication Thompson put in to make the Olympics is an incredible achievement and we wanted to recognize his accomplishment.
Revisit our feature on Thompson from September here.
From the boats full of athletes parading down the Seine River to the deafening crowds at the Stade de France to movie stars falling from the sky, the Olympics were showstopping. And Curtis Thompson was there for all of it.
“It was amazing,” said Thompson, the Spain Park High School track and field throws coach. “Definitely amazing. It was a blessing to be a part of that.”
Thompson competed in the javelin throw in front of a raucous crowd at one of the world’s most famous stadia.
“It was definitely up there for one of the great atmospheres for track and field that I’ve competed in around the world,” he said.
The javelin has taken Thompson around the globe. He said he first dreamt of going to the Olympics while throwing javelin at Mississippi State, where he majored in mathematics.
As a competitor, Thompson said the Paris Olympics felt like it was his first Olympics, even though he had competed at the COVID-delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021. He was also able to have his family there to see him.
Unlike the empty venues in Tokyo because of COVID, Thompson was able to perform in front of people in Paris — and a few people in particular, whom he points to as one of the highlights of the games.
“The biggest one, especially from these games, was being able to look into the crowd with some many people there and seeing my family there,” he said.
NBC averaged nearly 31 million viewers a day for the games, an 82% increase from the viewership of the Tokyo games.
While he wasn’t star-struck by any of the celebrities or other athletes, he enjoyed spending time with the other competitors who had sacrificed like he had to be there.
“The coolest part was during the opening and closing ceremony was you’re around other Olympians,” he said. “Just to be around so many people like that.”
He would have liked a different outcome to the games on the field, where he threw short of his usual distances and missed moving to the final round, but that hasn’t dampened his drive.
“I would’ve loved or expected a different outcome,” he said. “Looking back at it as a whole, I find the positives outweigh the negatives.”
Thompson said he is going to aim to compete in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. But first he is going to give himself some time to enjoy his experience, then he will get back to training for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, where he competed in 2021.
The sacrifices that he and other Olympians make to be at the games mean missing trips or time with the family, trying to make ends meet “to continue to chase the dream,” he said.
“You do your best to make it pay off at the end,” he said.
