Paris (AFP) – Julien Alfred and Thea LaFond led their two tiny Caribbean island nations to first-ever Olympic medals when they won golds in the women’s 100m and triple jump at the Paris Games on Saturday. On a heady night of track and field, Femke Bol fired out a broadside at 400m hurdles rival Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone with an incredible show of running that anchored the Netherlands to victory in the 4x400m mixed relay. And American Ryan Crouser won an unprecedented third consecutive Olympic title in the men’s shot.
In the 100m, St. Lucia’s Alfred upstaged the much-hyped American world champion Sha’Carri Richardson, storming to a gun-to-tape victory in 10.72sec. “It means a lot to my country. I’m sure they’re celebrating right now,” said Alfred. It was a stunning success in pouring rain at the Stade de France, aided by world champion Richardson’s terrible start and the withdrawal before the final of the injured Jamaican veteran Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. Richardson did fight back to claim silver in 10.87sec, but Fraser-Pryce missed out completely on her bid to become the first Olympian to medal in the same athletics event in five consecutive Games dating back to her gold in Beijing in 2008.
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In any case, the evening belonged to 23-year-old Alfred, overcome with joy after realizing she had bagged St. Lucia their first ever medal of any colour at an Olympics. “Growing up I used to be on the field struggling with no shoes running barefoot, running in my school uniform, running all over the place,” said Alfred. “I’m really hoping this gold medal will also help the youth and help St. Lucia build a new stadium and really help the sport grow.”
In a remarkable turn of events, there was — just 10 minutes later — another gold for a second island nation in the West Indies which also began competing at the Games in 1996. LaFond sailed out to a national record of 15.02 metres on her second effort in the triple jump. The world indoor champion held her nerve as Jamaica’s Shanieka Ricketts went out to 14.87m to claim silver. “It is absolutely beyond my wildest dreams,” said LaFond. “The rain was kind of in my favour, it came down as soon as I was done with that second jump – thank you God for working with me!”
Lafond added: “Here we are, Olympic champ. Dominica’s first medal, it’s gold. Indoor was the first medal, it was gold. What a year, what a life, oh my God, wow! Every time I step on the track is an honour, bearing the flag is an honour, being Dominican is an honour. Representing a country with only 70,000 people and being out here and getting their first medal, a gold, is an honour.”
In the field, Crouser was left elated just at being able to compete after a season in which he sustained two elbow injuries either side of a torn pectoral muscle. “I’m just honoured. I feel so lucky to be out there competing,” he said. “It took a lot to get back to where I had been in the past. It’s made it all the more special to be out there tonight. There were a lot of times I thought I might not be.”
Crouser’s US teammate Joe Kovacs snatched silver with his sixth and last attempt of 22.15m. Jamaican Rajindra Campbell took bronze. The drama continued right until the end of a sodden evening session, Norway’s Markus Rooth claiming gold in a gripping finale to the decathlon. Rooth accumulated 8,796 points over the two-day, 10-discipline event, only making sure of victory in the final event, the 1500m. Germany’s Leo Neugebauer took silver with 8,748pts, Lindon Victor of Grenada claiming bronze (8,711). “I was exhausted,” said Rooth. “It’s mentally hard. I just ran as hard as I could. It was great.”
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