ATLANTA — As the clock counts down to the Olympics, one Georgia athlete's journey back to the grand stage shows how he overcame adversity and embraced a new passion.
Daniel Haugh is an Olympian and NCAA champion who recently set a new world record at the USA Track and Field Indoor Championships. He's decorated and trains at Kennesaw State University with Isaiah Rogers, another NCAA champion.
"It's great to have somebody just in the trenches with you that gets it, you know," Haugh said about Rogers.
But what many might not know is that his path to Olympic glory was paved with the shattered dreams of a promising football career. He's looking to swing for gold in Paris from the gridiron to the hammer throw circle.
"That's something you know, you always dream of as a kid. You know that's the end goal," Haugh said.
Growing up in Marietta, about 10 miles from his current practice field, football was his first love. However, a severe concussion sidelined him, leading Haugh to pick up track and field. It was a second chance at sports and life that he embraced wholeheartedly.
That pivot could now win him gold; the evidence of his dedication still adorns his childhood home.
"There are the circles I spray painted in our cul-de-sac that I grew up in, where I would come home after practice and do my turns and all my drills," Haugh said. "Threw one in bounce and went straight through into the wall. It shook the whole house."
But Haugh's aim has since become more precise, and his dedication has paid off. He's reached an elite world top-five ranking, a testament to his hard work and determination.
Next on the list of 2024 competitions is the Olympic Trials. With less than three months to go, Haugh and his coach, Mike Judge, are leaving no stone unturned in his preparation.
"Every frame of video, every throw counts," Judge said. "The difference in his ball being one centimeter from where he wants might be the difference between breaking the world record or getting second place."