Lawrence Okoye is an English track and field athlete, and an American football player for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). The 6 foot 6 inch, 21-stone Olympic discus thrower holds the British record in the event, and his best throw of 67.63 metres ranks him fifth in the world.

Early Life
Lawrence Okoye was born on October 6, 1991 to Nigerian parents in Croydon in South London. His father, who was born in Nigeria, once played American football as defensive end for the University of Nebraska. He lives with his mother and his three sisters. Okoye attended St Mary's Roman Catholic Junior School, a state primary school, as well as the Whitgift School, an independent school for boys (both in Croydon).

Career
While still a student, he scored a try at the famous Twickenham Stadium as he helped guide Whitgift School to victory during the 2009 Daily Mail Under-18 Rugby Cup. While at school, he had also shown an interest in athletics. By the time he was 18, Okoye was playing as winger for the London Irish Academy rugby team and was set to play for Championship side Esher before choosing to focus on athletics.

After deferring an offer from the University of Oxford to study Law, he began to train seriously for the discus less than two years before the 2012 London Olympics. His first international outing was at the 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics at which he placed sixth. He won a gold medal at the European Athletics U23 Championships held in Ostrava, the Czech Republic, in July 2011 at the age of 19. Within twenty months of starting the new sport, Okoye was ranked the world's fourth-best discus thrower. He finished in that same position during qualification rounds for the Olympic final with a throw of 65.28 metres.