Ryan Herr

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Ryan Herr
Ryan Herr 2019.png
Personal information
Full nameRyan Jordan Herr
NationalityRhodelander
Born (1978-10-27) October 27, 1978 (age 46)
Broken Hill, Rhodeland
Height180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight87 kg (192 lb)
Spouse(s)Alexander Herr (m. 2012)
Sport
CountryRhodeland Flag.png Rhodeland
SportAthletics
Event(s)100 meters, 4x100 m relay
College teamRhodeland Leopards
ClubSouthern Athletics
Retired2008
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)
  • 100 m: 10.20 s
    (XXXX, 2000)
  • 4×100 m relay: 37.40 s
    (XXXX, 2007)
Medal record
Men's Athletics
Representing Rhodeland Flag.png Rhodeland
Grand Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2000 XXX 100 m
Gold medal – first place 2000 XXX 4×100 m relay
Bronze medal – third place 2004 XXX 100 m
Gold medal – first place 2008 XXX 100 m
Gold medal – first place 2008 XXX 4×100 m relay
World Championships
Silver medal – second place 1999 XXX 100 m
Gold medal – first place 2003 XXX 100 m
Gold medal – first place 2007 XXX 100 m
Gold medal – first place 2007 XXX 4×100 metres relay
Goodwill Games
Gold medal – first place 2001 Christiania 100 m
Silver medal – second place 2001 Christiania 4×100 m relay
Gold medal – first place 2005 Shiloh 100 m

Ryan Jordan Herr (née Troutman, born 25 October 1978) is a former sprint track and field athlete from Rhodeland. Herr is the President and CEO of Cinema Centers Inc, his family’s company, which is the largest family-owned operator of movie theaters in Rhodeland. Herr is the son of the company’s founders Doris and Robert Troutman, and is the second generation of his family to lead the company.

At the 2000 XXX Grand Olympic Games he became the first Rhodelander male in history to reach the 100 m sprint final in an international championship event. He finished second in the race, with 10.05 second, later that year XXX XXX was disqualified due to being tested positive for a banned substance and Herr took first place.

He is a former World Record holder in the 100 metre sprint with 9.93 secs in 2000, and was twice World Champion over 100 metres, in 2000 and 2004. He also won an Olympic gold medal in the 4 x 100 metres relay in 2004.

His 100 m personal best was set in 2002 at 9.90 secs, for which he holds the Rhodelander national records at men's 100 m. Though Herr was one of the best sprinters in the world in the early 2000s he was a quiet and unassuming character.

Early life

Athletic career

Career after retiring from athletics

Following his retirement from athletics in 2008, Herr became involved in with Livingston’s 2016 Grand Olympic Games bid team and as their Marketing Coordinator. After Livingston bid fail he was recruited by the TVR as the Head of the Grand Olympic Marketing in 2009, taking responsibility for the national marketing and promotion associated with the 2010 XXX Grand Olympic Winter Games and the 2012 Port Amanda Grand Olympic Games. In 2012, he was promoted to General Manager of Sports Marketing for TVR, overseeing the marketing of the network’s entire sports portfolio.

Herr joined his family’s company, Cinema Centers Inc. in 2014 as their Chief Marketing Officer. In 2018 he was appointed President of SkyVu Drive-Ins, a small chain of drive-in theaters owned by the Cinema Centers. In late 2019, he replaced his father, Robert Troutman as President and CEO of Cinema Centers Inc. Herr also sits on the boards of Bloom and Hollingsworth.

He is also the owner of the Summerdale Heat, a professional baseball team and Summerdale Wave, a professional soccer team.

Personal life

In 2007, Herr denied rumors to Popular magazine that he was gay. After his Popular magazine interview he begin dating Princess XXX of XXX, a great-great granddaughter of XXX XX of XXX, which was a cover for his homosexuality. The two dated from 2007 to 2009. They became engaged on 31 December 2008. Then on 21 June 2009, it was announced that Herr had ended the engagement. He released a statement in which he stated “The problem is with me and not with XXX. With our wedding invitation sent out over the weekend it made me realize that I wasn’t ready for marriage and everything that it entailed. I wished XXX all the happiness in the world and thanked her for all of the great times that we’ve had together.” Princess XX of XXX later revealed that she no idea that Herr was gay and he had ended their relationship as he was leaving to return home to Broken Hill, and had not contacted her since their break-up.

However in 2010 he came out as gay with a letter he wrote to the media saying that he “could no longer in good conscience keep pretending that he was something he wasn’t.” Herr said it was a very tough decision to speak out about his private life and struggles, due to his status as a teen idol and sex symbol, becoming the first Olympic medalist from Rhodeland by winning the 100 metres at the 2000 XXX Summer Olympics and winning several international championships, which generated huge media attention that really focused on his looks and not on his accomplishments. The letter also said that he had attempted suicide multiple times before coming out as gay and said: "when someone asked me if that was my cry for help, I said no. You only cry for help if you believe that you can be helped.”

Herr dated businessman Nicholas Romero in late 2010, before splitting up less than a year later in 2011.

Herr met his future husband President Alexander Herr, who is the first openly gay president in Rhodeland’s history, while they were competing in the 2009 Livingstone Triathlon, but the two did not begin dating until late 2011 after Herr relationship with Romero had ended. They were engaged in April 2012 and married on 1 January 2013, when same-sex marriage law reforms that passed in June 2012 came into effect. In honor of his marriage to Herr, he legally changed his last name from Troutman to Herr. Together, they have two children: a son Alexander James “AJ”, who was born to a surrogate mother on 11 October 2014 and a daughter Jennifer Rose, was born to the couple by the same surrogate mother on 1 June 2016.

They currently live in Summerdale, which is an affluent suburb of Livingstone, Rhodeland.