David Blair Hopes To Honor His Late Coach With His Performance, And His Actions, In Paris

The day before David Blair flew to Paris last summer for the World Para Athletics Championships, his longtime coach, James Parker, told Blair he was ready to win gold.

Those words of encouragement came after Blair had won three straight silvers in the men’s discus F44/F64 at worlds, as well as a fourth-place finish in the event at the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020.

And Parker was right. Blair claimed the first world title of his career by edging out defending world champion and U.S. teammate Jeremy Campbell by 0.03 meters. The triumph came seven years after Blair won gold at the 2016 Rio Games in the same event with Parker as his coach.

Victory in Paris was bittersweet, however.

That encounter before Blair left for worlds ended up being the last time he saw Parker in person. About a month after Blair won gold, Parker — who was 47, the same age as Blair at the time — died from an unexpected cardiac event while on a hunting trip with his son.

“His ability to have compassion for people set an example to me for how much better I can live my life,” Blair said of the former U.S. Air Force officer, “and he had a such a great ability to take something really technical and break it down into something really simple, which is excellent for a coach.”

Parker was a three-time national champion and Pan American Games silver medalist in the hammer throw. He also qualified for the 2004 Olympics and competed in Athens despite getting food poisoning shortly before his event.

Last September, Blair spoke at Parker’s funeral, held in front of a full grandstand at a local high school football stadium in Kaysville, Utah.

“It was such a great tribute to such a great guy,” Blair said. “His influence was solidified after he passed that as important as I felt I was to him, hundreds of other people felt the exact same way.

“Everyone was expressing how they felt like James was their best friend. It was a crazy good example of the ability to impact those around us and our community in the best way.”

Blair, born with a clubfoot, was friends with Parker for more than 35 years. They competed against each other in Utah as far back as eighth grade. When Blair first entered Para competition about a decade ago, Parker was the obvious choice to coach him.

The two spent “untold hours of practice at the ring” together, as Parker coached Blair to five worlds medals and a Paralympic gold medal.

Ahead of the Paralympic Games Paris 2024, Blair, is finding grace in his new coach, Niklas Arrhenius, who serves as the throws coach at BYU.

“He’s been my lifeline this year,” Blair said, adding that Arrhenius has the best technical eye in the discus he’s ever seen.

Working with Arrhenius has already paid off. Blair, now 48, defended his world title last month in Kobe, Japan, where he clinched a dominant victory over the rest of the field with a throw of 60.13 meters.

As Blair prepares to make a run for his third Paralympics, he continues to be his own biggest critic. He’s the first to mention he has only thrown 60 meters twice in three years, whereas before the last Paralympics he was throwing that distance on nearly every attempt.

“Every year I train really hard and then recover, and then try to climb the mountain again,” he said. “This year especially has been a really tricky climb. I don’t know if it’s my age, or what it is, but it’s been much more of a struggle technically to get things going distance wise with the discus.”

This Paralympic journey will certainly have more meaning to it, though, as Blair recognizes the impact Parker had on him and the lessons he can apply to his own life — treating everyone along the way as if they were his best friend.

Now more than ever, Blair’s support system is there holding him up. His wife and daughters continue to accessorize his office, home or backyard with massive banners every time he returns from setting a new record or winning a medal.

“They’ve been so supportive of me, and encouraging, understanding and loving through the whole thing,” Blair said.

Stuart Lieberman covered Paralympic sports for three years at the International Paralympic Committee, including at the London 2012 and Sochi 2014 Games. He is a freelance contributor to usparatf.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.