British shot putter and discus thrower
Carl Myerscough (born 21 October 1979) is an English retired track and field athlete. He specialised in the shot put and discus throw and exceeded the British record in the shot put with a best of 21.92m set in winning the NCAA championships in Sacramento, California in 2003, although the performance was not ratified by UK Athletics.[2]
Biography
Carl won the UK championships in the shot put ten times consecutively from 2003 to 2012. While competing for the University of Nebraska he gained two indoor (2002–03) and two outdoor (2003-04) NCAA Division 1 championships. He graduated from the University of Nebraska in 2004, with a degree in Fine Art.[3]
He won the European Cup in 2004 (Bydgoszcz, Poland) with a throw of 20.85m.
In 2002 (Manchester, England) he won bronze in the Commonwealth Games Shot put and in 2010 (Dehli) bronze in the discus throw.
He was a 2012 Olympian.
Nicknamed the Blackpool Tower due to his stats at 6 ft 10" height.
After dedicating several years to grip training, in 2023 he became one of only 6 people ever certified as being able to close a No. 4 Captains of Crush gripper.[4]
Doping
In 1999, Myerscough's record was tarnished when he tested positive for the second time,[5] for "a cocktail of banned substances," and was subsequently banned from competing for two years, and banned for life from the Olympics. The Olympic ban was subsequently overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and he represented Team GB at the 2012 Olympics in London.[6] Myerscough placed 29th in the qualifying rounds and did not progress further.[1]
He has always denied knowingly taking drugs and believed he was a victim of sabotage.[7] Myerscough is married to the American athlete Melissa Price, who was also banned at one time as a result of drug use in connection with the BALCO scandal.[8]
Great Britain
