Darrell Hill turns 23 today, and he couldn’t be happier with celebrating his birthday on another continent.

Unlike many of his peers on Team USA in Rio de Janeiro, Hill’s prowess in his sport was not immediately evident soon after he was born, writes Paul Schwedelson for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The Darby native’s improbable journey to the five rings of the Olympics began when he volunteered to throw the shot put, something he’d never done before, for Penn Wood High School’s track and field team.

“I had no clue at all” what to do, said Hill, who grew up playing football, basketball, and wrestling. “This was something I literally just did because my friends were at the meet.”

According to the Inquirer, even as late as the fall of Hill’s senior year at Penn Wood, he planned on playing football in college. He had offers from a few Division II schools, as well as a chance to walk on at Penn State and Temple.

But everything changed on Dec. 8, 2010. Hill threw the shot five feet farther than his previous personal best, and that gave him the longest high school throw in Pennsylvania and second-longest in the country.

“After that, I wasn’t sure if I was really that good or if I had one good meet,” Hill said.

He eventually finished second in the high school state shot put championship in 2011, helping him decide which sport to pursue in college.

It was in Hill’s junior year at Penn State that he realized he could continue his career on the national level.

“You could see a switch was flipped in his brain,” Penn State coach John Gondak said. “‘I’m one of the best in the country, and I’m going to approach every meet like that.'”

The Olympic shot-put competition commences tomorrow (Thursday) for Hill.

Click here to read more about Darrell Hill in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Check out this Today Show video describing Ellis Hill’s fortuitous Uber ride, first reported in the Washington Post last week, that took Ellis from Darby all the way to Rio to watch his son compete in the Olympics tomorrow.