Gwendolyn Denise Berry (born June 29, 1989) is an American track and field athlete who specializes in the hammer throw.
[6] She entered as favourite for the weight throw at the NCAA Indoor Championships, but performed poorly, ending in tenth, and commented that she was psychologically affected by being one of the smaller athletes there.
Nerves again affected her at the 2012 NCAA Outdoor Championships, as she failed to reach the final despite being the country's third best thrower that year, behind Jessica Cosby and Amber Campbell.
A new hammer best of 71.95 m (236 ft 1⁄2 in) came in April and she entered the 2012 United States Olympic Trials as the number two ranked American woman after Jessica Cosby.
[2] Berry secured her first national title at the 2013 USA Indoors, launching the weight throw 24.70 m (81 ft 1⁄4 in) to beat out a field including Amber Campbell and Jeneva McCall.
[10] She achieved a best of 73.81 m (242 ft 1+3⁄4 in) for the hammer that year, but again did not perform well at the 2013 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, placing ninth.
[11] The 2014 season marked her first foray into the international professional circuit and she ranked eighth on the 2014 IAAF Hammer Throw Challenge.
There, she came away with a gold medal in a season's best of 72.04 m (236 ft 4 in) and beat three-time world champion Yipsi Moreno of Cuba, whose career was an inspiration for Berry.
[13] Berry skipped the 2015 indoor season and again competed on the circuit, placing tenth in the 2015 IAAF Hammer Throw Challenge final standings (second only to Amanda Bingson among Americans).
[14] Berry cleared seventy metres for the first time nationally at the 2015 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, but strong performances by Campbell, DeAnna Price and Bingson left her in fifth place overall.
She raised her fist at the end of the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" in protest against “injustice” in America "and a president who's making it worse.