Berry is currently serving a 16-month suspension due to a second doping violation set to expire in August 2024.
Career
Early life and college
Gwen Berry was born to Michael Berry and Laura Hayes; she grew up in Florissant, Missouri and attended McCluer High School.[2] While there she was a basketball player but started taking part in track in the off-season and competed in the triple jump. She began studying for a degree in psychology and criminal justice at Southern Illinois University Carbondale in 2007. She took up throwing events for the Southern Illinois Salukis collegiate team and came fourth in the hammer throw at the 2008 USA Junior Championships.[3]
Her throwing improved the following year and she was the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) champion in the weight throw and shot put and reached eleventh in the former event at the NCAA Indoor Championships. In 2010, she earned NCAA All-American honours in the weight throw and shot put indoors and the hammer throw outdoors (taking fourth at the 2010 NCAA Outdoors).[3] That season she set bests of 16.30 m (53 ft 5+1⁄2 in) for the shot put, 20.48 m (67 ft 2+1⁄4 in) for the weight throw and 62.55 m (205 ft 2+1⁄2 in) for the hammer throw.[4]
In her last season at Southern Illinois, Berry reached new peaks. A shot put best of 16.99 m (55 ft 8+3⁄4 in) brought her the MVC outdoor title and she later placed twelfth at the 2011 Championships.[4] In the weight throw she 22.71 m (74 ft 6 in) in Bloomington, Indiana, which placed her second in the world for the event that year behind Amber Campbell.[6] She entered as favourite for the weight throw at the NCAA Indoor Championships, but performed poorly, ending in tenth, and commented that she was psychologically affected by being one of the smaller athletes there. Moving to the outdoor season, she threw a personal record to win the hammer at the Drake Relays.[7] Her mark of 70.52 m (231 ft 4+1⁄4 in) ranked her in the world's top 25 athletes for the year. Nerves again affected her at the 2012 NCAA Outdoor Championships, as she failed to reach the final despite being the country's third best thrower that year, behind Jessica Cosby and Amber Campbell.[8]
Professional
After graduation, Berry continued competing with a focus on weight throw in the indoor season and hammer throw in the outdoor season. At the 2011 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships she ranked sixth. In the 2012 season she came third in the weight throw at the 2012 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships. A new hammer best of 71.95 m (236 ft 1⁄2 in) came in April and she entered the 2012 United States Olympic Trials as the number two ranked American woman after Jessica Cosby.[4][9] She did not live up to her previous performance, however, and ended in seventh with a mark of 68.84 m (225 ft 10 in). Despite the failure, she was approached by New York Athletic Club, who encouraged her to join them and remain in the sport.[2]
Berry secured her first national title at the 2013 USA Indoors, launching the weight throw 24.70 m (81 ft 1⁄4 in) to beat out a field including Amber Campbell and Jeneva McCall.[10] She achieved a best of 73.81 m (242 ft 1+3⁄4 in) for the hammer that year, but again did not perform well at the 2013 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, placing ninth.[4] She defended her weight throw national title in 2014.[11] The 2014 season marked her first foray into the international professional circuit and she ranked eighth on the 2014 IAAF Hammer Throw Challenge.[12] She was seventh at the 2014 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, but was still selected for the Pan American Sports Festival. There, she came away with a gold medal in a season's best of 72.04 m (236 ft 4 in) and beat three-time world champion Yipsi Moreno of Cuba, whose career was an inspiration for Berry.[2] She enjoyed her highest world ranking that season, placing 17th overall.[13]
At the start of 2016, Berry was dominant in the weight throw, winning four straight meetings with throws over 24 meters, including a third career win at the 2016 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships, and ranking number one globally for the season. Her hammer throw was also much improved with consistent throws beyond seventy meters.[4] Although a throw of 76.31 m (250 ft 4+1⁄4 in) at the Tucson Elite Classic was initially recorded as a national record, that distance along with all of Berry's performances from March to June 2016 were annulled due to violation of anti-doping procedures.[16][17]
Berry has received two doping violation suspensions issued by USADA during her career. In 2016 she received a three-month suspension for using a prohibited medication.[18] In August 2023, Berry was given a 16-month suspension by USADA after testing positive for a banned substance.[19]
Support for U.S. national anthem kneeling protests
During the award ceremony in the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, Berry was awarded the gold medal for the hammer throw. She raised her fist at the end of the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" in protest against “injustice” in America "and a president who's making it worse."[20][21] Berry's protests led the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee to issue new guidelines in order to allow peaceful expressions of protest "in support of racial and social justice for all human beings."[22] Berry has stated: "I'm here to represent those who died [due] to this systemic racism."[23][24][25]
The International Olympic Committee reprimanded Berry and placed her on probation for 12 months, prohibiting her from any form of protest for a year. Her act cost her sponsorships, and she estimated that she lost $50,000.[26]
In June 2021, during the U.S. Olympic track and field trials for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Berry turned away from the U.S. flag during the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner".[27] She said of the national anthem's timing that "I feel like it was a set-up".[27] According to a spokesperson for USA Track and Field who stated, "The national anthem is played every day according to a previously published schedule", the anthem was scheduled to be played at 5:20 p.m., though on this occasion the music started at 5:25 p.m.[28] Berry claims an official told her the anthem would play prior to her arrival on the podium.[29] Berry has accused critics of her protest of favoring "patriotism over basic morality."[30]
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