Their home country doesn’t even have a track!
Thea LaFond just made history at the 2024 Paris Olympics, winning the first-ever gold medal for Dominica, a Caribbean island of about 72,000 people without a single track and field facility, TODAY reports. Immigrating to the United States as a child, LaFond made a name for herself in high school, becoming a stand-out track and field star in college at the University of Maryland, where she was named Big Ten’s Field Athlete of the Year in 2015. Now LaFond has made her country proud, winning Dominica’s first Olympic medal ever in the triple jump this past weekend.
“I was never allowed to ever forget where I came from,” LaFond told reporters.
One special supporter, LaFond’s brother and Navy defensive end football player Chreign LaFond, was particularly proud of his sister. Although he couldn’t make it to Paris due to his upcoming athletic season, his team made sure they caught his reaction on camera, giving Chreign the good news while at practice.
In a video shared by Navy Football, his coach calls him out in front of his teammates.
“Hey, your sister just won a gold medal,” the coach said quite casually.
Chreign seemed literally stunned, stumbling a bit before giving another coach a hug as the team burst into cheers, surrounding Chreign in complete excitement.
“Let’s go! Let’s go!,” they chanted.
The fervor was only heightened in their home country of Dominica, LaFond predicting the celebrations after securing her gold medal. LaFond said the nation deserves it just as much as she does.
“Oh, God, my country is never going to stop partying, are they? And it’s a Saturday? Just cancel work on Monday, guys. They deserve this as much as I do. And I hope they are partying enough for both of us. I don’t know what I’ve done in life to deserve this. I don’t know how everything worked out—I’m not going to say I don’t know. We worked for this.”
Cover photo: Watch The Heartwarming Moment Thea LaFond’s Brother Learned She Won Dominica’s First Ever Gold Medal/Photo credit: Yoan Valat/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock