Jennifer Dahlgren

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Dahlgren and the second or maternal family name is Fitzner.

Jennifer Dahlgren Fitzner (born 21 April 1984) is a retired Argentine hammer thrower. Having spent much of her life in the United States, she competed as an amateur for the University of Georgia. She set the US collegiate hammer record and was the NCAA Outdoor champion in both 2006 and 2007. She is a three-time gold medallist at the South American Championships and won the bronze medal at the 2007 Pan American Games.

Jennifer Dahlgren

Jennifer Dahlgren in 2012
Personal information
Full name	Jennifer Dahlgren Fitzner
Nationality	Argentina
Born	(1984-04-21) 21 April 1984 Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	112 kg (247 lb)
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Event	Hammer throw
Medal record Women's athletics Representing Argentina Pan American Games 2007 Rio de Janeiro Hammer throw South American Championships 2005 Cali Hammer throw 2006 Tunja Hammer throw 2011 Buenos Aires Hammer throw 2009 Lima Hammer throw 2013 Cartagenas Hammer throw Pan American Junior Championships 2003 Bridgetown Hammer throw 2003 Bridgetown Shot put South American Youth Championships 2000 Bogotá Hammer throw 2000 Bogotá Discus throw
Updated on 28 January 2015

Dahlgren has represented Argentina at the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics, as well as having competed at the World Championships in Athletics on three occasions. She first broke the South American record in the discipline in 2004 and has raised it several metres to her current best of 73.74 m. She is one of the continent's top performers in the event, in which South American athletes are historically weak. In 2010 she won the Konex Award Merit Diploma as one of the five best Athletes from the last decade in Argentina.

Career

Dahlgren's first major tournament was the 2000 World Junior Championships in Athletics, but she did not make the final, finishing 11th in the qualifying stages. She finished fourth at the 2001 World Youth Championships, but won the South American Junior Championships and took second at the Pan American Junior Championships that year. Dahlgren took fifth at the World Junior Championships in Athletics the following year and again topped the podium in the 2002 South American Junior Championships in Athletics. The 2003 season proved to be a breakthrough year: she set the South American junior record in the discipline and won at the Pan American Junior Championships.

Dahlgren reached the championship podium three times in 2004, finishing third at the NCAA Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championship for the University of Georgia with a South American record of 66.12 m, taking the gold at the South American U23 Championships in Athletics and winning a bronze medal at the 2004 Ibero-American Championships. However, she did not fare as well at the 2004 Summer Olympics, managing a throw of only 59.52 m. In 2005, she improved her record to 67.07 m and bettered her previous performance at the NCAA Championships with a second-place finish. She set a championship record of 65.05 m to win the 2005 South American Championships in Athletics – her first senior title. She did not continue her momentum into the 2005 World Championships in Athletics and she threw three fouls to be eliminated in the qualifying round.

In 2006, she won the NCAA Indoor Weight throw title and set a new US collegiate record in the hammer with a throw of 71.78 m at the SEC Championships – the fourth time she had improved her South American record that year. She went on to win her first outdoor NCAA hammer throw title a few months later. Dahlgren improved her championship record to 69.07 m to take a second continental gold at the 2006 South American Championships in Athletics. She also won at the 2006 South American Games, which acted as the South American Under-23 Athletics Championships that year.

She started 2007 by winning the NCAA championships with a mark of 70.72 m (her final amateur title) and throwing a new South American record of 72.01 m soon afterwards in Greensboro, North Carolina. She scored her first major championship medal at the 2007 Pan American Games, taking the bronze with a throw of 68.37 m behind Cubans Yipsi Moreno and Arasay Thondike. Representing Argentina at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics, she threw 65.64 m in the qualifying round but this was not enough to progress to the final.

She suffered a foot injury in 2008, which affected her performances early in the season. She recovered somewhat in time for the 2008 Ibero-American Championships and was the silver medallist behind Rosa Rodríguez. She had a best mark of 66.35 m at the 2008 Summer Olympics, leaving her as the best South American performer but in 29th place overall. She had a below par performance at the 2009 South American Championships in Athletics, throwing 63.81 m for the bronze medal. Despite this, she was also the best South American performer in the hammer at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics, where her throw of 68.90 m was good enough for 17th, but not enough to make the final round.

She came under the tutelage of fellow Argentine Marcelo Pugliese, a former Olympic hammer thrower. At the start of the 2010 season, Dahlgren set another best of 73.74 m in Buenos Aires.

Personal life

Dahlgren frequently moved with her family in her youth, which meant that she spent much time living in the United States. She returned to Argentina at the age of 13, but took time to feel comfortable with the language and settle into her school. However, after settling she was once again uprooted as her family moved to Texas. Her mother Irene Fitzner competed for Argentina as a sprint athlete at the 1972 Summer Olympics. Dahlgren's younger brother, Paul, attended Baylor University in Waco, Texas.

Dahlgren's great-grandfather was Swedish, hence her Swedish surname.

Dahlgren married on May 11, 2024 in Houston, TX.

Personal bests

Event	Best (m)	Venue	Date
Shot put (indoor)	15.54	Blacksburg, Virginia, United States	14 February 2004
20 lb weight throw (indoor)	24.04	Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States	10 March 2006
Hammer throw	73.74	Buenos Aires, Argentina	10 April 2010

• All information taken from IAAF profile.

Achievements

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing Argentina
1999	South American Junior Championships	Concepción, Chile	8th	Shot put	10.79 m
			7th	Discus throw	37.46 m
			5th	Hammer throw	46.36 m
2000	South American Junior Championships	São Leopoldo, Brazil	6th	Discus throw	39.09 m
			1st	Hammer throw	54.95 m
	World Junior Championships	Santiago, Chile	23rd (q)	Hammer throw	50.49 m
	South American Youth Championships	Bogotá, Colombia	2nd	Discus throw	39.55 m A
			1st	Hammer throw	56.68 m A
2001	World Youth Championships	Debrecen, Hungary	4th	Hammer throw	56.96 m
	South American Junior Championships	Santa Fe, Argentina	6th	Shot put	12.47 m
			1st	Hammer throw	57.50 m
	Pan American Junior Championships	Santa Fe, Argentina	2nd	Hammer throw	57.18 m
2002	World Junior Championships	Kingston, Jamaica	5th	Hammer throw	59.48 m (AJR)
	South American Junior Championships / South American Games	Belém, Brazil	2nd	Shot put	13.61 m
			2nd	Discus throw	41.41 m
			1st	Hammer throw	55.73 m
2003	Pan American Junior Championships	Bridgetown, Barbados	3rd	Shot put	14.26 m
			1st	Hammer throw	58.61 m
2004	South American U23 Championships	Barquisimeto, Venezuela	3rd	Shot put	14.34 m
			6th	Discus	42.62 m
			1st	Hammer	65.17 m
	Ibero-American Championships	Huelva, Spain	3rd	Hammer throw	63.72 m
	Olympic Games	Athens, Greece	43rd (q)	Hammer throw	59.52 m
2005	South American Championships	Cali, Colombia	1st	Hammer throw	65.05 m
	World Championships	Helsinki, Finland	—	Hammer throw	NM
2006	South American Championships	Tunja, Colombia	1st	Hammer throw	69.07 m (CR)
	South American U23 Championships / South American Games	Buenos Aires, Argentina	1st	Hammer throw	66.48 m
2007	Pan American Games	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	3rd	Hammer throw	68.37 m
	World Championships	Osaka, Japan	25th (q)	Hammer throw	65.64 m
2008	Ibero-American Championships	Iquique, Chile	2nd	Hammer throw	64.89 m
	Olympic Games	Beijing, China	29th (q)	Hammer throw	66.35 m
2009	South American Championships	Lima, Peru	3rd	Hammer throw	63.81 m
	World Championships	Berlin, Germany	17th (q)	Hammer throw	68.90 m
2010	Ibero-American Championships	San Fernando, Spain	1st	Hammer throw	70.91 m
	Continental Cup	Split, Croatia	5th	Hammer throw	66.25 m
2011	South American Championships	Buenos Aires, Argentina	1st	Hammer throw	72.70 m
	World Championships	Daegu, South Korea	10th	Hammer throw	69.72 m
	Pan American Games	Guadalajara, Mexico	6th	Hammer throw	67.11 m
2012	Ibero-American Championships	Barquisimeto, Venezuela	2nd	Hammer throw	71.23 m
	Olympic Games	London, United Kingdom	–	Hammer throw	NM
2013	South American Championships	Cartagena, Colombia	3rd	Hammer throw	65.82 m
	World Championships	Moscow, Russia	17th (q)	Hammer throw	68.90 m
2014	South American Games	Santiago, Chile	2nd	Hammer throw	67.94 m
	Ibero-American Championships	São Paulo, Brazil	1st	Hammer throw	66.84 m
	Pan American Sports Festival	Mexico City, Mexico	6th	Hammer throw	68.37m A
2015	South American Championships	Lima, Peru	3rd	Hammer throw	64.76 m
	Pan American Games	Toronto, Canada	7th	Hammer throw	65.33 m
	World Championships	Beijing, China	21st (q)	Hammer throw	67.68 m
2016	Ibero-American Championships	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	1st	Hammer throw	67.34 m
	Olympic Games	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	27th (q)	Hammer throw	63.03 m
2017	South American Championships	Asunción, Paraguay	2nd	Hammer throw	64.76 m
	World Championships	London, United Kingdom	–	Hammer throw	NM
2018	South American Games	Cochabamba, Bolivia	1st	Hammer throw	70.98 m
	Ibero-American Championships	Trujillo, Peru	1st	Hammer throw	68.89 m
2019	South American Championships	Lima, Peru	3rd	Hammer throw	65.06 m
	Pan American Games	Lima, Peru	10th	Hammer throw	63.22 m

External links

• Jennifer Dahlgren at World Athletics
• Jennifer Dahlgren at Olympics.com
• Jennifer Dahlgren at Olympedia
• Jennifer Dahlgren (2012) at the Comité Olímpico Argentino (in Spanish)
• Jennifer Dahlgren (2016) at the Comité Olímpico Argentino (in Spanish)