How one Mansfield native went from Division II to the 2024 Paris Olympics

Joseph Brown never participated in a state high school championship track meet, wasn’t heavily recruited coming out of high school and didn’t attend a Division I college.

However, on Wednesday the Mansfield native boarded a plane for France as a member of the U.S. Olympic team to compete in the discus in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

At the 2024 U.S. Track and Field championships, Brown threw the discus 65.79 meters on his final throw. He had to wait for other competitors’ final throws before claiming third place and a spot on the Olympic team.

“I think I suppressed [my emotions] all as I was stepping into the ring and so like after I got out of the ring, that was when it all just came flooding back in and like the adrenaline hit me and everything just hit me all at once,” he said Wednesday. “So I had, I had a panic attack at that point and I was just trying to, trying to breathe. But that at that point ... now, I’ve done all I can do and now all I can do is wait. So it was kind of relieving that I couldn’t do anything.”

After his high school dreams of playing collegiate football were dashed, he chose to join the track team at Texas A&M Commerce. From there, he would go on to set the groundwork for him to become one of the best discus throwers in the United States.

“Yeah, throughout college, it was a different environment because it was year-round where we were practicing and working on technique and everything,” said Brown, “We also had more resources like YouTube and stuff like that and then our weight room training was more geared towards throwers and just stuff like that, so I kept getting better incrementally year by year.”

Brown’s improvement continued in his fifth season at Commerce when he won the 2019 Division II championship in the discus with a throw of 59.54 meters.

That’s when he knew he could take his sport to a higher level.

“I think that was the point at which I was like, ‘OK, I don’t think I’m that far away from making (the U.S. National) team or like making it to the Olympics.’ I don’t think I’m that far away from the dream. So I talked with my coach, my coaches and they told me a little bit and the head coach said that I could come back as a GA (graduate assistant) in the following year,” said Brown.

Brown’s plans were undone by the COVID-19 pandemic. And after having a poor showing in the 2020 US Track and Field championships, he had to figure out how hard he wanted to fight for his dream.

“Once the lockdown was over, then I started training again, but I didn’t have my GA position, so I wasn’t making any money and at that point, I was like, do I keep on doing this,” said Brown, “Then I got last place at the trials and I was like, and then I was really questioning everything.”

Brown turned Mariyah Oliver, whom he had begun dating in 2018 and would later marry in 2022, who believed in his dream and decided to become the sole breadwinner to support it.

“I made the decision to keep on going and my wife supported it and said, If I really wanted to keep on pursuing this then she would take care of all the bills and stuff and let me do this full time,” said Brown, “So without [her], it would have just stopped right there, but she agreed to that and then after that, it was I can’t waste the opportunity.”

Brown got support from other friends and family but admitted his success was in large part due to his wife’s sacrifices and said he was ready for the Olympic opportunity it afforded him.