ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Whether you are the reigning world champion, or if you’ve been breaking university records all season, competing for the Olympic trials can often be cutthroat. But for one 22-year-old athlete, competing alongside her idols was all the motivation she needed. 

It's an explosion of power and force, where speed and velocity are critical.

“It's such a technical event,” Webster Thomas coach Matt Carpenter said. “Probably one of the hardest things to do is to step into that circle with all those eyes on you and perform.”

Hammer throwing has been included in the Olympic games since 1900. And while men have been throwing the hammer for centuries, women have had a relatively short history in the event, as several women began to throw the hammer in the 1980s. They paved the way for current day athletes like Monique Hardy. 

“Being a female thrower specifically was very challenging at first because it is such a strong and male-dominant sport,” Hardy said. “But growing as a female, it really helped me empower myself. Because when I was in high school, I was just slanging left and right.” 

She is carrying her accomplishments as a school record-holder at Kansas State University; a two-time NCAA All-American and a two-time Big 12 champion. But despite all of Hardy's accolades, she says the road to her success was not easy.

“The overall time and commitment it takes,” Hardy said. “I throw from one and a half to two and a half hours a day. It can be overwhelming at times.”

Finding the sport to be masculine and male-dominated raised concerns for Hardy's parents.

“I was like, 'Oh my God, what about this,'” Monique’s mother Sylvia Hardy said. “You're a girl. You're a lady. She was like, 'I'm still there, but I want to do this. I like it, you know?'"

“I think a father has an image of his girls,” Monique’s father Sherman Hardy said. “And when you see your girl lifting heavy five, six pounds, it looks a little intimidating.”

However, with Monique Hardy's strength, both mentally and physically, her family began to see the skills she carried.

“After I saw how far she actually threw it, I said, 'OK not bad,'” Sherman Hardy said.

She has launched her hammer from the field in Webster Thomas to the Olympic trials.

“You're on this level, you've made it,” Monique Hardy said. “You've worked to be at this level and train and compete with the best. You're one of the best. So you kind of have to step up to that plate and perform and really just soak up the atmosphere as a whole.”

And despite not making it to the Olympic roster, 22-year-old Monique Hardy’s career has only just begun.

“To watch her kind of go from one season to the next getting better, it was a gift for us just to watch her kind of grow and become, you know, who she is today,” Sherman Hardy said.