Olympian Chaunte Lowe recovered from cancer has her eyes set on Tokyo
By Mark Carman
Chaunte Lowe has her eyes set on Tokyo 2021 with cancer in the rear view mirror.
When Chaunte Lowe first got diagnosed with breast cancer she logically thought that her career as an elite Olympic high jumper was over. Survival and her three children were the immediate goals.
“I didn’t even think that it was an option (Olympics),” Lowe told FanSided. “As soon as I got the ‘big c’ word diagnosis, I started thinking about having to go through a double mastectomy and having a treatment regime I was terrified that my career would be over.”
Lowe had a double mastectomy in July of 2019 followed by six rounds of chemotherapy. Staying positive even in the hardest times is a part of Lowe’s dynamic personality. She knew the road back, it at all possible, was going to be a long incremental one.
“When I faced my own health challenge, I got to the point where my fitness level was back to where it was when I was a freshman in high school,” Lowe said. “It was horrifying to me to be at a great sense of fitness and then overnight to feel like it was all gone.”
One day at a time moving forward was the formula that gradually brought back into form. Lowe was in a race against time to get ready for Tokyo 2020 so when the Olympics got pushed back a year due to the pandemic, there were obvious benefits.
“I think that the extra year definitely was helpful, but it has definitely been a tumultuous and different year where training has been a little bit more tricky,” Lowe said. “Everyone having to deal with the COVID pandemic, it’s been a little bit different, but I am still excited that we have the opportunity.”
Track and field tryouts are now coming quick: June 18-27 in Eugene, Oregon, less than two months away. Opening ceremonies in Tokyo are July 23. Lowe’s training regimen had to changed at one point due to her being immunocompromised. Instead of a public track, the backyard had to be rearranged. The journey has been a long one but the end is in sight.
“I don’t know how many days there are until June 18, but I am aware of how many days until the Olympic games. I do count the weeks,” Lowe said.
This will be Lowe’s fifth Olympic games if she qualifies in June. She is the American record-holder in the high jump and owns a bronze medal from the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Chaunte Lowe talked to FanSided courtesy of her partnership with Lilly wanting to help educate and inform people that options are out there when life doesn’t go according to plan.