Jennifer (nee Stuczynski) Suhr is the 34-year-old Olympic and World champion pole vaulter competing at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. It’s her third Olympics and she’s going for her second gold. (She won a gold medal in London, a silver in Beijing.) She began pole vaulting in 2004, at the age of 22, while studying at Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, New York. Her first coach was Rick Suhr. In just ten months of working together, Jenn became a US National Champion pole vaulter. Six years later, in 2010, Jenn and Rick married.
Rick Suhr is 15 years Jenn’s senior. He is the only pole vault coach to have received the United State Olympic Committee’s Ikkos award (excellence in coaching). He received the award twice, in 2008 and 2012. Watch Jenn Suhr go for her second Olympic gold medal during the 2016 Summer Olympics Primetime coverage on NBC, Friday, August 19 beginning at 8pm.
