Back in central Ohio with a bigger family, Joe and Ashley Kovacs eye gold in Paris

COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) — Joe and Ashley Kovacs. They may be one of the best stories out of Team USA.

Joe, the two-time silver medalist shot put thrower, and Ashley, his wife and coach. And as they get ready for Paris , they do so with more motivation and mouths to feed.

It’s not uncommon to see the Kovacs training hard with the shot put. What is uncommon is where they train now: right outside of their house. And it’s all because of their two twin babies, Kannon and Kaari.

“Everything is about them all the time so we train when they nap and that was part of thing about being back here,” Ashley Kovacs said. “We wanted to be able to have space where we could put a ring at our house so when they were down for a nap, that we could do what we needed to do.”

The twins were born in October 2022. Months later, Ashley decided to leave her coaching job at Vanderbilt and return to central Ohio, where she and Joe lived before the Tokyo Games, when she coached at Ohio State.

“I just really felt like it was time to settle down a little bit and kind of get to a place where we were comfortable and we both liked a lot and focus on Joe being able to do his best in these Olympics,” Ashley said. “And focus on our kids.”

And the move was worked wonders. Joe is having one of the best seasons of his career, balancing taking care of twins and taking care of business in the shot put ring.

“Never have been happier in my life with my wife to the kids. It’s the best life I could’ve ever wished for,” Joe said. “Certainly things going into practice are different. Like I go from talking about Lightning McQueen and playing and then I’m getting in the shotput ring 15 minutes later and I’m yelling and putting chalk onto my neck. So it’s definitely a different transition time.”

Now heading to his third Olympics, the two-time world champion has dreams of gold for him and his family.

“Want to be able to go in there and capitalize on all the hard work we did,” Joe said. “I think my biggest goal is to go into that meet and be in shape to throw a personal best, which would probably put me at the world record. And I think if I go in there with that confidence and that mindset, I’ll be capable of doing that.”

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