Jacko Gill
Age: 26
Height: 1.90m
Event: Shot Put
Born: December 20, 1994
Coach: Kirsten Hellier
Previous Olympics: 2016
Jacko Gill heads into the Tokyo Olympics hunting his first medal and New Zealand's second men's medal in the discipline.
He has shown fine form over an outstanding 12 months on the domestic scene, where he has out-thrown rival Tom Walsh on four occasions and boosted his personal best to 21.52m.
During a decorated junior and youth career that saw him bring home three world gold medals, the 16-year-old threw 20.01m with a senior shot (7.26kg), breaking a New Zealand record set by Les Mills back in 1967.
Gill has had to overcome a life-threatening heart disease in recent years and struggled to replicate his junior form in the senior ranks, with only gold medals at the 2014 & 2019 Oceania Championships to show for his work.
At the world championships, the Aucklander has a best finish of seventh at Qatar in 2019. He placed ninth at the 2016 Rio Olympics and 11th at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
