A Year in the Car, Then Olympic Gold

Camryn Rogers is from Richmond, British Columbia. When she was 12 or 13, around 2011 and 2012, she had no home of her own. She stayed with friends and relatives and lived with her single mother in their car for about a year.

A housing charity, the More Than A Roof Foundation, helped the family into a new home. Rogers has said it gave them a second chance and a fighting chance. She now speaks publicly about homelessness and how it affects families across Canada.

Sport was waiting just ahead. She was introduced to track and field at school in January 2012, at 13, and fell in love with the hammer throw after watching athletes at the London 2012 Olympics. Four years after the year in the car, she competed at the 2016 world under-20 championships, and two years after that she won gold at the same event.

She left home for university in California, where she earned a master's degree in cultural studies in sport and education. She went on to compete in two Olympic Games. At the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics she won gold in the women's hammer throw. In September 2025 she defended her world title at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.

The Daily Hive piece, published in October 2025, presents her as an Olympic champion who has chosen to be open about where she began.