The roller-coaster life of an Olympian

RIO DE JANEIRO — Chaunte Lowe can measure her adult life by the Olympics — all the highs, all the lows.

In 2004, her first time high-jumping at the Summer Games, she was midway through her college career at Georgia Tech. In 2008, the year she placed sixth at the Beijing Olympics, she was a first-time mother who had bought and lost her first home. Her world at times felt like it was crumbling. In 2012, she went to the London Games as a favorite to medal, a mother of two who again finished sixth.

And now at her fourth Olympics, Lowe, 32, has the same goal — to reach the podium — but with three children now, more stability than ever and a plan to help other Olympians avoid some of the mistakes she made along the way.

There are 555 Olympians on the U.S. team, which includes 292 women. But just 10 are mothers, and Lowe and beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh Jennings are the only mothers of three here competing for the U.S., both of them striking a delicate balance between work, family and sport.

The women’s high jump finals are today, and Lowe finally could be in position to win her first Olympic medal. She thinks back a decade earlier when she became a professional track and field athlete, when she was young and invincible, when there was prize money to win and sponsors eager to help.

“I grew up in a situation where I really didn’t have a lot of money,” Lowe said. “Once I had an opportunity to get money in my hands, I spent it very quickly. I thought the money would come forever.”

Lowe and her husband, Mario, started a family in 2007. That changed their lives, but it also presented a harsh reality: It’s not always easy for a pregnant athlete or a new mother to remain competitive.

Lowe was unable to earn the same money as an athlete, and her husband lost his job amid the country’s economic crisis. He found out about the layoff the same day the couple closed on a house. Both homes went into foreclosure.

“It broke me as a person, losing everything I had worked so hard for,” she said.

Eight years later, her life is stabilized and her family has grown. She’s jumping some of her best marks and helping make ends meet by working as a day trader. Life is good.