at the 2012 united states olympic trials, kynard made the olympic team by placing second behind jamie nieto with a height of 2.28 m. at the olympics, kynard won silver behind russian ivan ukhov with a height of 2.33 m, the first major international medal of his career. ukhov won the competition with a height of 2.38 m. throughout the high jump competition, kynard was noticed by his american-themed tube socks. he will likely get gold after the disqualification of ukhov for doping in 2019.