Feb. 12, 2015
In celebration of Black History Month, RamblinWreck.com will highlight several African-American student-athletes that left their mark on Georgia Tech athletics. Our second profile feature is Chaunte Howard Lowe, who became the first female track & field athlete from Georgia Tech to become an Olympian.
By Chris Yandle
Communications & Public Relations
A three-time NCAA individual champion in the high jump, Chaunte Howard Lowe’s road to becoming one of the world’s best high jumpers almost didn’t happen. Lowe’s high school coach wanted to keep her in the sprints and not try her talents in the high jump. However, she was able to convince her coach and the rest is, well, history.
She became a seven-time prep national champion at J.W. North High School in Riverside, Calif. She was the indoor and outdoor national champion in the high jump in both 2001 and 2002, and she was later named one of 33 Nike Athletes of the Year in high school track & field.
As a true freshman, she earned All-America honors in the high jump, tying for second at the NCAA Outdoor Championships with a jump of 6-01.25 (1.86m). A year later, Lowe took home the 2004 NCAA Indoor (6-3.50/1.92m) and Outdoor (6-4/1.93m) titles in the high jump. That same year, with the help of then-jump coach Nat Page, Lowe became an Olympian at the age of 20 when she qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team in the high jump. She became Georgia Tech’s first female track & field athlete to qualify for the Olympics.
She qualified for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, with a jump of 1.85m, but she did not reach the finals. A year after a run at her first Olympic games, Lowe won the 2005 NCAA Indoor Championship in the high jump with a leap of 6-3.5 (1.92m).
A Georgia Tech graduate with a degree in economics and finance, Lowe finished sixth in the high jump at both the 2008 (Beijing) and 2012 (London) Summer Games.
Lowe is American record holder in the high jump with a best of 6 ft, 8.75 in 2010. Since leaving The Flats, she is a five-time USA Outdoor champion in the high jump (2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012) and a two-time Indoor champion (2006, 2012).
Spontaneous dances after clearing the high bars have become Lowe’s signature in the track & field world. She will participate in the NYRR Millrose Games held at New Balance Track & Field Center at The Armory in New York City on Saturday. Watch live on NBC Sports Network at USATF.tv from 6-8 p.m. ET.
She is married to triple jumper Mario Lowe. The couple has two daughters – Jasmine and Aurora.
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Previous Black History Month Profiles
Feb. 10 – Eddie McAshan, Football
Feb. 12 – Chaunte Howard Lowe, Track & Field
Feb. 17
Feb. 19
Feb. 24
Feb. 26
