David Blair: Mormon Athlete
David Blair is a Paralympian having won a gold medal in men’s discus (F44 classification for those with lower-limb impairments) at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He broke his former world record with a throw of 64.11 meters. Blair became the Paralympic record holder in Rio and set the world record in 2021. Both still stand as the 2024 Paralympics begin in Paris.
Blair is headed to his third Paralympics representing Team USA. He won gold at both the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships in Paris and the 2024 World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan.
Blair was born on September 25, 1975, in Ogden, Utah, and is from Eagle Mountain. He was born with a clubfoot. After surgeries and rehabilitation, he participated in track and field in high school and learned the technique of discus throw through videos and later through formal coaching as one of seven high school athletes to attend a training camp at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs (1993). He won a high school state championship and received an athletic scholarship to Weber State University. At Weber he set several school records and earned two conference titles in hammer and weight throw. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in technical sales/computer science and stepped away from the sport for over fifteen years.
In 2015 he learned he was Paralympic eligible and six months later he had earned a 2015 world championship (silver) in Qatar. At the 2016 US Paralympic Team Trials he took gold in discus. He was honored as the Male Adaptive Athlete of the Year at the 2016 Governor’s State of Sport Awards.
Blair is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He and his wife, Cynthia, are the parents of four daughters.
