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Thea LaFond
Dominica triple jumper (born 1994) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Thea Noeliva LaFond (born April 5, 1994) is a Dominican-American track and field athlete who competes in the triple jump. At the 2024 Summer Olympics, she won gold in the triple jump to claim the first-ever Olympic medal for Dominica. LaFond was also the 2024 World Indoor triple jump champion.
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Biography
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LaFond emigrated from Dominica to the United States as a young child.[1][2] During her childhood, she was a dancer (ballerina) where she learned to accept criticism and focus on technical changes to form and movement.[3] She is a graduate of John F. Kennedy High School in Silver Spring, Maryland, where she later returned to be a special education teacher.[4][5]
At the University of Maryland, LaFond was a multi-event athlete who competed in the heptathlon and indoor pentathlon and embraced the process of becoming a better athlete.
LaFond competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the women's triple jump; her result of 12.82 meters in the qualifying round did not qualify her for the final.[6][7]
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Competing at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, she made history, becoming the first Dominican athlete to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games after securing a bronze medal in the women's triple jump.[8][9][10]
She competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics, where she served as Dominica's flag bearer, alongside fellow track and field athlete Dennick Luke.[11] During the 2022 Commonwealth Games, she improved her result and won a silver medal in the women's triple jump event.
On 3 March 2024, LaFond became the first person from Dominica to win a World Championship gold medal, after taking first place in women's triple jump at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships, setting a national record of 15.01 m.[12]
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She won her country's first-ever Olympic medal when she took gold at the Paris Games, setting a new national record record of 15.02 metres in the process.[13][14][15] Thereafter, she was rewarded by the government of Dominica with $400,000, appointment as a national sports ambassador, a diplomatic passport, as well as a 7,459-square-foot (693.0 m2) parcel of land in the village of Warner, Saint Paul Parish. A track and field facility would also be built and named in her honour, and she would be granted the Dominica Award of Honour during independence day celebrations in early November.[16]
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Personal life
LaFond is married to Aaron Gadson, who is also her coach.[17] They live in Maryland. She is Catholic.[18]
LaFond has a brother, Chreign, who plays defensive end for the Navy Midshipmen.[19]
International competitions
References
External links
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