Lance Deal’s (born August 21, 1961) earliest athletic achievements included All-State honors in football, wrestling and track at Natrona high School in Casper, Wyoming. He went on to graduate from Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana. He competed is the 1988, 1992, 1996 and 2000 summer Olympic Games, winning a silver medal in 1996 in Atlanta in the hammer throw.
Deal finished second in the hammer at the 1989 and 1994 World Cup and at the 1998 Goodwill Games, and is a two-time Pan Am Games Champion. He is a four-time Olympian, he holds the U.S. hammer throw record of 82.52 meters/270 feet, 9 inches and was ranked #1 in the world in that event in 1996. Lance is the owner of 12 U.S. Indoor 35-lb. weight-throw titles.
He retired after the 2001 season, but he returned to win the 2002 Men’s National Hammer Title. Deal went on to serve as assistant shot, discus and hammer coach at University of Oregon, where he mentored all four throws events for both Oregon men’s and women’s teams.