{"id":20122,"date":"2024-12-10T13:50:16","date_gmt":"2024-12-10T18:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thewash.org\/?p=20122"},"modified":"2024-12-10T13:52:15","modified_gmt":"2024-12-10T18:52:15","slug":"local-prodigy-turned-national-icon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewash.org\/2024\/12\/10\/local-prodigy-turned-national-icon\/","title":{"rendered":"Local prodigy turned national icon"},"content":{"rendered":"
A gold medal doesn\u2019t look like it would happen for Montgomery County resident Thea LaFond. She had unsuccessfully competed in the two previous Olympics, in Rio and Tokyo, leaving both events with a broken heart.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
Then things changed in Paris when she stepped onto the triple jump runway for her native country, the Commonwealth of Dominica.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cI told myself that your body knows what to do, trust it. And I did my hop, I did my step, and in that step, I felt like I had so much speed and was covering so much ground, and I heard the crowd freak out before I even hit the sand,\u201d LaFond told 最新蜜桃影像.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cI was in the air, and I could hear the stadium scream, and I hit the sand, hopped out of the pit, and everyone’s going crazy. I see team Dominica in the stands with the flags, wailing, and tears coming down people’s faces. My husband is standing there with his hands up in the air, like, look at the greatness of this moment,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
She recounts how she looked up at the screen to see 15.02 meters (49.27 feet) and her mind going blank with amazement.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cI let out the biggest scream. I think it was like all the downfalls, the hard times, the sacrifices. This day, Dominica got its first-ever Olympic medal, and it just so happens to be gold,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
A prodigy of Montgomery County, Thea LaFond immigrated to the United States as a child with her parents from the Commonwealth of Dominica, a Caribbean country with a population of about 73,000.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n