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Nick Symmonds

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nick Symmonds
Symmonds in 2011
Personal information
NationalityAmerican
Born (1983-12-30) 30 December 1983 (age 40)
Blytheville, Arkansas, United States
Height5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight185 lb (84 kg)
Sport
SportAthletics (middle-distance running)
College teamWillamette University
ClubBrooks
Turned pro2006
Coached byDanny Mackey
Sam Lapray
Retired2018
Achievements and titles
Personal bests*All information from athlete's World Athletics profile unless otherwise noted.
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing the  United States
World Championships
Silver medal – second place 2013 Moscow 800 m

Nicholas Boone Symmonds (born December 30, 1983) is an American YouTube personality and retired middle-distance runner from Boise, Idaho, who specialized in the 800 meters and 1500 meters.[6] At Willamette University, he won seven NCAA Division III titles outdoors. Symmonds is a 6-time US national 800 meters champion. He has competed in the 800m at two Olympic Games, reaching the semi-finals in Beijing 2008,[7] and finishing fifth in the London 2012 final, running a personal best of 1:42.95 behind David Rudisha's world record of 1:40.91. The following year, he won a silver medal in the 800 meters at the 2013 World Championships, having previously finished sixth in the 2009 final and fifth in the 2011 final.

Symmonds signed with Brooks Running in January 2014 after a 7-year sponsorship with Nike.[8] In October 2014, Symmonds and his coach Sam Lapray co-founded Run Gum, a supplement company which makes functional chewing gum.

Following his retirement, Symmonds gained more popularity in 2020 through his YouTube channel which primarily focuses on running, powerlifting, and fitness. He is also pursuing the Seven Summits, the highest mountain on each continent.

Early life and education

[edit]

Symmonds was born on December 30, 1983, in Blytheville, Arkansas.[9] His family moved to Boise, Idaho when he was three-years old. His father Jeffrey Symmonds is a surgeon, and his mother Andrea is a teacher.[10] Raised in Boise, Symmonds is a 2002 graduate of Bishop Kelly High School.[10]

An avid outdoorsman, Symmonds earned his Eagle Scout award in high school.[11] In high school, he won state championships in the 800 meters, 1600 meters, 3200 meters, and the 4 × 400 m relay. His high school personal bests were 1:53 in the 800 meters, 4:20 in the 1600 meters, and 9:47 in the 3200 meters.[10][12]

He chose Willamette University in Salem, Oregon over other schools that could offer athletic scholarships. At Willamette, an NCAA Division III school, Symmonds earned a degree in biochemistry in 2006 and is a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.[10]

Running career

[edit]

Collegiate

[edit]

While at Willamette, he won the 800 m NCAA championship race all four years and 1500 m NCAA championship race as a freshman,[13] junior, and senior.[14] Symmonds' collegiate best in the 800m of 1:45.83 currently ranks No. 1 in NCAA Division III history.[15] His 1500m collegiate best of 3:40.91 ranks No. 3 all-time in NCAA Division III.[15] Though Symmonds is widely regarded as Willamette's most decorated athlete, his poor relationship with Head Coach Matt McGuirk has prevented wide celebration of his athletic achievements at his alma mater.[16]

Year Northwest Conference Cross Country NCAA Cross Country Northwest Conference Outdoor NCAA Outdoor
2005-06 25:18.1 1st 27:12.2 9 3rd 1:55.39 1st
4:04.75 1st		 1:49.59 1st
3:49.24 1st
2004-05 26:27.5 7th 25:49.2 84th 1:52.60 1st 1:49.87 1st
3:54.20 1st
2003-04 1:55.51 1st 1:50.87 1st
2002-03 26:16.7 8th 26:18.3 89th 1:49.51 1st
3:46.66 1st

[17]

Post-collegiate

[edit]
Symmonds during 2010 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships

After college, Symmonds joined the Oregon Track Club Elite.[10] A seven-time outdoor track champion at the NCAA III level, he was runner-up at the AT&T USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 2006 in the 800m race.[6] In 2007, he won the 800m race at the Prefontaine Classic meet in Eugene, Oregon, with a then personal best time of 1:44.54, upsetting the current Olympic champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy by beating him with his own come-from-behind strategy.[18]

In 2008, Symmonds won the United States Olympic Trials 800m final held in Eugene, Oregon with a personal best time of 1:44.10.[19] He was the first of three Oregon associated athletes to finish at the top of this race before the home crowd, the other two being Andrew Wheating from the University of Oregon and Oregon Track Club training partner Christian Smith, an event referred to as the "Oregon sweep" and replayed many times in television coverage of the meet. This qualified all three men for the U.S. Olympic Team for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, for the 800 m race.[9] At the Beijing Olympics, Symmonds won his first-round heat, then finished a non-qualifying fifth place in his semifinal heat with a time of 1:46.96, 0.73 seconds behind the winner of that heat.

Symmonds continued to improve in 2009, winning the USATF Championships over Khadevis Robinson, which qualified him to represent the United States at the World Championships. As part of his preparation for the championships, Symmonds ran a personal best of 1:43.83 on July 29, 2009, in Monaco.[10] A few weeks later, Symmonds became the first American to qualify for the final of the men's 800m since 1997. He finished sixth in 1:45.71.[6] In 2010, he lowered his personal best again, to 1:43.76, while finishing third behind David Rudisha's 1:41.01 world record at the IAAF World Challenge track and field meet in Rieti, Italy.[20]

On June 25, 2012, Symmonds returned to the 2012 United States Olympic Trials again on his home track in Eugene, Oregon. The race went out fast, with Charles Jock leading Duane Solomon through a sub-50 second first lap. Atypically, Symmonds was not far off that pace. As Jock faded, Solomon charged off to a big lead through the final turn. Symmonds ran around the field and sprinted past Solomon on the homestretch to make his second Olympic team.

At the London Olympics, Symmonds was one of the two time qualifiers for the final of the 800m. He placed fifth in the final with a new personal best of 1:42.95; David Rudisha placed first in the world record time of 1:40.91, with Nijel Amos of Botswana second, Timothy Kitum of Kenya third, and Symmonds' teammate Duane Solomon fourth.

In 2013, Symmonds achieved his highest placing at an international championship, winning a silver medal at the 2013 IAAF World Championships in Athletics by running a season's best of 1:43.55, second only to Ethiopia's Mohammed Aman. At the time, this was the highest an American had ever finished in the men's 800 meters at the World Championships.

Symmonds was removed from the U.S. team at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics due to a sponsorship rights conflict between personal sponsor Brooks and U.S. sponsor Nike.[21]

Symmonds had to forego racing the 2016 Olympic Trials due to an injured ankle.[22] He retired after being eliminated in the heats of the 2017 US Championships.

Run Gum

[edit]

In 2014, Symmonds and his former coach, Sam Lapray, founded Run Gum, which markets a caffeinated chewing gum to athletes.[23][24] In January 2016 Run Gum filed an antitrust lawsuit against USA Track and Field for rules that Symmonds felt suppress competition.[25] In May, a federal judge dismissed the suit.[26]

Symmonds often advertises Run Gum on his YouTube channel, through giving away Run Gum products as challenge prizes. There has also been several Run Gum social media accounts created, the most prominent of which is a TikTok account with over 750 thousand followers and 38 million likes.[27]

Post-running career

[edit]

YouTube

[edit]
Nick Symmonds
YouTube information
Channels
Subscribers1.7 million (Nick Symmonds)

55.9 thousand (Nick Symmonds Too)

2.46 thousand (Nick Symmonds Gaming)[28]
(December 2024)
Total views584 million (Nick Symmonds)

6.6 million (Nick Symmonds Too)

32.2 thousand (Nick Symmonds Gaming)[28]
(December 2024)

In 2017, Symmonds' original intention of creating his YouTube channel was to vlog the final two weeks of his pro running career.[29]

His channel broke out in late 2019, and currently has over 1.6 million subscribers and 570 million views. In his YouTube videos, he often refers to himself as "The Bison". His content focuses on challenges involving fitness and running. He is good friends with fellow YouTuber A.J. Lapray. Sometime in 2020 he signed a deal with Gymshark.

In June and July 2020, Symmonds became a topic of controversy in the running community when he organized events ignoring social distancing guidance for his videos.[30]

Beginning in 2020, Symmonds started a second YouTube channel named 'Nick Symmonds Too', consisting of reaction, tutorial and challenge videos of shorter length. As of 2024, the channel has 55.8 thousand subscribers, and 6.49 million views.[31]

Throughout the 2020s, Symmonds' channel grew in popularity. As his channel grew, Symmonds became known by many as "The MrBeast of Fitness",[32] with the channel motto being, "It Pays to Be Fit!".[29] As a one million subscriber special, Symmonds gathered one million pennies, and subscribers were allowed to keep as many as they could carry to a scale.[33]

On November 10, 2023, Symmonds announced via a video on his channel he was taking a break from his YouTube career.[29] He returned on August 31, 2024 with a video on climbing Denali, the highest peak in North America.[34]

Mile to Mountain

[edit]

On May 1, 2018, Symmonds announced his official retirement from track & field, along with his next major personal goal; to climb the Seven Summits, the highest mountain on each continent. Symmonds refers to this goal as Mile to Mountain.[35] With an Everest expedition set for spring of 2025,[34] if he is successful, Symmonds would become the first person in history to both summit Mount Everest and run a sub four minute mile.[36] As of May 2024, Symmonds has climbed three of the Seven Summits; Kilimanjaro,[37] Puncak Jaya,[38] and Denali.[34]

Alongside his Mile to Mountain goal, Symmonds worked on summiting all fifty US state highpoints over a period of ten years, finishing in 2024 on Denali, the highest point in Alaska, the United States, and North America.[34]

Personal life

[edit]

At the 2013 World Championships in Athletics in Moscow, Symmonds was a vocal critic of Russia's "anti-gay" laws.[39] He dedicated his silver medal to his gay and lesbian friends.[40]

Symmonds published an article in the November 2013 issue of Runner's World magazine advocating that Congress should "ban assault rifles and handguns for everyone except police and military personnel."[41]

In 2017, Symmonds was hired by the newly formed Track Town Summer Series Professional Track & Field league to act as General Manager for the team representing San Francisco.[citation needed] Symmonds opposed what he considers absurdly strict rules restricting athletes' ability to market themselves. For the 2012 season, he auctioned off space on his left shoulder for a temporary tattoo to advertise a sponsor. The winning bidder was a Milwaukee advertising agency, Hanson Dodge Creative, which paid $11,000 for the space to advertise their Twitter handle. During restricted competitions such as the Olympic Trials and the Olympic Games, Symmonds was required to cover up the tattoo with white tape, which ends up drawing attention to the tattoo advertising underneath.[42] Prior to Symmonds, 2004 Olympic champion shot-putter Adam Nelson actively sold space on his shirt during the 2005 season, when he won the IAAF World Championships.[43] The practice is also common in boxing.[44]

On the matter, Symmonds commented:

I've never had a problem speaking out about something that bothers me, The biggest thing that rubs me the wrong way is that governing bodies want to control the space I feel I should control.[45]

— Nick Symmonds

In 2020, Symmonds married Tiana Baur.[46] Symmonds has a pet rabbit named Mortimer, with whom he posed for a PETA ad campaign against animal testing.[47] He is also an avid fisherman and pilot.[48][49]

Circuit and national competition wins

[edit]
Year Competition Event Time Ref
2007 Boston Indoor Games 800 m 1:48.15
Prefontaine Classic 800 m 1:44.54 [50]
United States Indoor Track and Field Championships 800 m 1:48.73
2008 United States Olympic Trials 800 m 1:44.10 [19]
2009 Boston Indoor Games 1000 m 2:20.52
Prefontaine Classic 800 m 1:45.86
United States Outdoor Track and Field Championships 800m 1:45.86
2010 United States Outdoor Track and Field Championships 800m 1:45.98
2011 United States Outdoor Track and Field Championships 800m 1:44.17
2012 United States Olympic Trials 800m 1:43.92
2015 United States Outdoor Track and Field Championships 800m 1:44.53

International competitions

[edit]
Year Competition Event Time Place Ref
2008 Olympic Games 800m 1:46.96 5th (semifinal)
2009 World Championships 800m 1:45.71 6th
2011 World Championships 800m 1:45.12 5th
2012 Olympic Games 800m 1:42.95 5th
2013 World Championships 800m 1:43.55 2nd

Publications

[edit]
  • Symmonds, Nick (2014). Life Outside the Oval Office: The Track Less Traveled. ISBN 978-1935270324.
  • Symmonds, Nick (2020). How to Be a Better Runner.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Dealing with Setbacks, Disappointment, and Injuries in Running #Breaking11". YouTube. August 2019.
  2. ^ "Attempting the ONLY Distance I've NEVER Raced". YouTube. 5 March 2020.
  3. ^ "2014 Turkey Day 5k - Boise Event".
  4. ^ "Honolulu Marathon Results Search".
  5. ^ "Nick Symmonds Breaks U.S. Beer Mile Record". 22 August 2012.
  6. ^ a b c "USA Track & Field - Nick Symmonds".
  7. ^ "Olympic Athletics Competition Schedule". IAAF. Archived from the original on 2008-09-13. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
  8. ^ Gambaccini, Peter (January 2, 2014). "Nick Symmonds Leaves Oregon Track Club, Signs with Brooks". Runner's World.
  9. ^ a b "Complete U.S. Olympic rosters". ESPN.com. August 8, 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-19.
  10. ^ a b c d e f Goe, Ken. Symmonds no longer a secret. The Oregonian, June 20, 2007.
  11. ^ "Nick Symmonds". 1859oregonmagazine.com. 13 March 2016.
  12. ^ "Nick Symmonds". milesplit.com. Retrieved 2021-08-04.
  13. ^ "Willamette University". Willamette University. 22 July 2024.
  14. ^ "Apple Raceberry JaM". www.raceberryjam.com.
  15. ^ a b "Claremont Mudd Scripps" (PDF). Claremont Mudd Scripps.
  16. ^ "Chavez: Symmonds lifts curtain on new book". 28 September 2014.
  17. ^ "Bio Nick Symmonds Men's Track and Field results Willamette University". Athletic.net. Retrieved September 22, 2016.
  18. ^ "Records shattered at the Prefontaine Classic". The Oregonian. June 10, 2007.
  19. ^ a b [1]USA Track and Field, June 30, 2008.
  20. ^ "Symmonds' personal best good for third. - Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com.
  21. ^ "Nick Symmonds to miss worlds after failing to sign USATF contract release". ESPN.com. 10 August 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  22. ^ "Controversial 800m runner Nick Symmonds injured, will miss Olympics | NBC Olympics". Archived from the original on 2016-08-13. Retrieved 2016-07-01.
  23. ^ "Nick Symmonds Develops Gum For Runners". www.flotrack.org. 7 October 2014.
  24. ^ "Our Story - What Motivated Us to Create a New Kind of Energy". Run Gum.
  25. ^ DeJarnette, Ben (January 21, 2016). "Run Gum Lawsuit: What Happens Next?". Runner's World.
  26. ^ Strout, Erin (May 12, 2016). "Judge Dismisses Run Gum Lawsuit". Runner's World.
  27. ^ "TikTok". www.tiktok.com. Retrieved 2022-09-21.
  28. ^ a b "About Nick Symmonds". YouTube.
  29. ^ a b c Nick Symmonds (2023-11-10). BRB…. Retrieved 2024-08-02 – via YouTube.
  30. ^ "Olympian called out on social media for hosting races with no social distancing". kgw.com. 28 June 2020. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
  31. ^ "Nick Symmonds Too - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2023-01-12.
  32. ^ Press 💬, The Publish. "Inside a Fitness Creator's $100,000 Obstacle Course". The Publish Press. Retrieved 2024-08-02.
  33. ^ Nick Symmonds (2022-11-22). ONE MILLION PENNIES, Keep What You Can Carry!. Retrieved 2024-08-02 – via YouTube.
  34. ^ a b c d Nick Symmonds (2024-08-31). I Survived 21 Days in the Coldest Place On Earth. Retrieved 2024-08-31 – via YouTube.
  35. ^ Nick Symmonds (2018-05-01). Mile To Mountain. Retrieved 2024-08-31 – via YouTube.
  36. ^ Kelly, Madeleine (2018-05-02). "Nick Symmonds vs. Mount Everest". Canadian Running Magazine. Retrieved 2023-11-01.
  37. ^ Nick Symmonds (2020-12-26). I Climbed the Tallest Mountain in AFRICA!! (Kilimanjaro: 19,341ft). Retrieved 2024-08-31 – via YouTube.
  38. ^ Nick Symmonds (2018-02-28). #NowClimbing Carstensz Pyramid (Indonesia's Tallest Peak). Retrieved 2024-08-31 – via YouTube.
  39. ^ Luhn, Alec (2013-08-14). "US athlete Nick Symmonds speaks out against Russia's anti-gay law in Moscow". The Guardian. Retrieved 2013-08-15.
  40. ^ Horsey, David (August 15, 2013). "Putin's anti-gay laws set the stage for an international battle". Los Angeles Times.
  41. ^ Symmonds, Nick (November 5, 2013). "Guns in America: It's Time for Change". Runner's World.
  42. ^ "Olympic runner Nick Symmonds has a "forbidden" tattoo – Outsports". Archived from the original on 2012-07-15. Retrieved 2012-07-24.
  43. ^ "News | iaaf.org". www.iaaf.org.
  44. ^ "Froch awaits Ward after he beats Pavlik on 1/26 — Boxing News". November 23, 2012.
  45. ^ Elliott, Stuart (July 4, 2012). "With a Tattoo, Hanson Dodge Bets on Nick Symmonds". The New York Times.
  46. ^ "Nick Symmonds marries longtime girlfriend at home in Oregon". Running Magazine. 24 May 2020.
  47. ^ Mitch James, "Olympic Runner To Unveil PETA Campaign Monday in Santa Monica," Santa Monica Mirror, 14 December 2013.
  48. ^ "Work, rest and play – Nick Symmonds| News | iaaf.org". www.iaaf.org.
  49. ^ "Nick Symmonds". YouTube. Retrieved 2024-12-21.
  50. ^ D3 star races to elite ranks, takes Athlete of the Week. Archived 2007-10-15 at the Wayback Machine USA Today, June 12, 2007.
[edit]
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