Caribbean athletes shine at Paris Olympics with their Historic win

Caribbean athletes have created history as Dominica’s Thea Lafond (women’s triple jump) and Saint Lucia’s Julien Alfred (women’s 100m) have won their first Olympic gold medals. Grenada’s, Lindon Victor’s bronze at Men’s Decathlon and Jamaica’s, Shanieka Rickets Silver in Women’s triple jump is another achievement for Caribbean athletes at Olympic games held on 3^rd August 2024.

Thea Lafond, representing Dominica secured the top place in Women’s Triple Jump as she won with a remarkable leap of 15.02 metres. Lafond’s victory is a moment to celebrate for Dominicans as it is the first Gold for the country.  Apart from this, Jamaica’s Shanieka Rickets grabbed second position in the Triple Jump category as she jumped 14.78m, whereas Jasmine Moore of USA ended up third with 14.67m.

Saint Lucia Julian Alfred emerged victorious in Women’s 100m as she scored an impressive time of 10.72 seconds. Alfred’s victory is a significant achievement as it is Saint Lucia’s first gold in the Olympic history. She competed the USA champions Sha’Carri Richardson, who ended up second and Melissa Jefferson who got a bronze.

On the other hand, Grenada’s Lindon Victor, a Decathlon player won an Olympic bronze in the Men’s category by scoring 8711 points. Victor who is a two-time gold medallist in the commonwealth games, this year lagged behind Germany’s Leo Neugebauer who secured second position with 8748 points. Whereas, Markus Rooth of Norway secured first position with 8796 points.

Apparently, Jamaica’s well-known player and speed queen Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce who is also a two-time gold medallist and one bronze and Silver missed out on performing in the Women’s 100 m event due to an injury. This Olympics was the last for the 37-years-old athlete which crushed her dreams to chase a medal this year.

The athletes have been congratulated for their achievements on social media by several political leaders on their success. The Prime minister of Saint Lucia, Philip J Pierre in his Facebook post stated in his post stated that

“Congratulations to Saint Lucia’s very own, Julien Alfred for winning gold in the Women’s 100m, 10.72s and Thea Lafond of Dominica for bringing home the gold in the Women’s Triple Jump 15.02m. Congratulations to Lindon Victor of Grenada on winning the bronze medal in the Men’s Decathlon.”

Prime Minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit on the other hand emphasized Thea Lafond’s win as “a truly monumental achievement”

“Thank you for always representing our country with such grace and dignity. Your triumph in Paris stands among our proudest moments as a nation!” the PM added.

Andrew Holness the Prime minister of Jamaica congratulated everyone as he noted, “What a sensational silver finish for Jamaica! Congratulations to Shanieka Ricketts on winning a silver medal”

Notably, the Caribbean holds a legacy for producing world class athletes and this year the historic wins by the athletes’ marks as a testament to the hard work and dedication of the region to provide better sports facility to the athletes. Many more players from the region are yet to compete at the biggest sports event lighting a hope in netizens for more medals in the future.