Dominica has secured its first qualified athlete for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games to be held in Tokyo Japan.
Thea Lafond booked her spot on the big stage during the weekend; jumping 14:33 meters at the 2020 University of Albany Winter Classic Competition in New York in the triple jump event.
The Olympic qualifying mark is 14.32 meters.
Lafond said she is happy to have qualified after recently suffering from an injury which made her incapable of competing at the world championships in 2019.
“I started rehab almost immediately after my injury, literally a few hours later…and just to be back at a place where I can feel like I can perform at this level and to feel like this is just the beginning, is truly a blessing,” she said.
Lafond said now her goal is accomplished, her main focus will be on improving her skills.
Meantime, President of the Dominica Olympic Committee, Billy Doctrove said he is very proud of Lafond’s efforts and hard work after her injury.
Doctrove said he hopes her qualifying can act as a catalyst for other Dominican athletes.
“We will continue supporting her in her efforts to even increase and improve her distance in her jumps and I’m hoping that other athletes possibly would take that and recognize that they too can…qualify,” he said.
In 2018, Lafond jumped 13.92 meters at the Commonwealth Games and secured a historic bronze medal for Dominica.
She was the first Dominican to achieve this mile stone.
Great Job!!! Keep doing it for DA, family and for real DA people like me. Jah blessings and protection. Jah!!!
Why is my small island people so. …negative. why do guys have be crab in barrel????? Why?????? We need the exposure no matter what it is. Be grateful. Why….be so…small minded????
Yes, let’s build facilities for our young people so they can be competitive in the world. Just now we only got one stadium that can be use for cricket only and no other sport but mort often is used for fetes. We had a minister for sport even, the wife of Pierre Charles who died. What did she do for our young people to develop talent. I agree we mus be more positive starting with the government and not only rich foreigners to sell them a passport so they can claim to be our Dominica ski team in the Olympics. I asking you, skiing in Dominica, where, on Morne Diablotin then. We don’t want to laughed at again.
Way to bounce back after the injury, Thea. Blessings on your preparation forward to Tokyo!
Congratulations young lady. Good luck as you move on.
I must laugh. The qualifying mark is 14.30. She jumped 14.32. She barely passed the qualifying mark. What is she going to Olympics to do? To compete for last place? Anyone who cannot beat the qualifying mark by a co miserable distance is just heading there for numbers. Let us not forget her participation in 2016. She loomed like a kindergarten child competing against Olympians. She was way out of her league. The money being spent for her to participate would be better spent on younger children teaching them the basics of long jump. A friend of mines attended college for two years. At graduation he received a certificate of attendance. I say that to say that she is just going there for the numbers. She is not going to threaten anyone with sub par performance like that.
Hope you can do Better. Hagers like you are never hard to find. She would be Better off jumping on and American ticket. Donkey years she left Dominica but she chose Dominica…just say congrats and move on.
What are you?
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Congratulations!! One observation though, in what event did she qualify? Long, High or Triple Jump?
ADMIN: The triple jump event. It was updated in the story.
Great stuff, congratulations. Pity we do not have the facilities at home so we could nurture local talent here and so put Dominica on the map. We should not be known only for selling passports.
Can’t you just congratulate the young lady on her accomplishment and end it there? Why ruin an inspirational story?
It is not Thea’s fault we cannot offer these facilities here. Yet despite that she is doing well. Double congratulations young lady!! She is to be admired.
That’s what I like to hear when I think about my country DA, not bad news especially to do with violence and mishaps. I love to see my country develop and not degrade year in year out. I love ppl representing their country and especially when something positive comes out of it. Congratulations to u and all other Dominicans who rep their country by making a good name for themselves.