Spanish athlete Jordan Díaz was proclaimed Olympic champion this Friday in the triple jump event at the Paris 2024 Games, thanks to the 17.86 he achieved in his first attempt, without needing, or having any rivals, to do the sixth and final one.
Díaz lived up to his status as world leader of the year (18.18) and gave Spain its fourth gold medal and 15th medal for the medal table of these Games, with two days of competition remaining in the French event. The Portuguese Pedro Pichardo (17.84) and the Italian Andy Díaz (17.64) completed the podium.
The Havana native did not need to reach 18 metres, as he had anticipated on the day of the qualification, to achieve, at 23 years of age, the greatest success of his life. His desire to be Spanish and the wait for nationality led him to be out of competition since 2021, but his debut as a Spaniard was unbeatable: European champion.
Jordan, whose name is synonymous with flying in basketball, broke barriers every time he had the opportunity, as he had been doing in the Under-18 and Under-20 World Athletics Championships in 2017 and 2018, still competing with Cuba. In Rome, two months ago, he won continental gold, with a time of 18.18 that shattered his own Spanish record and put him on a par with the best in history.
It was time to prove it in Paris, in a packed Stade de France, with the noise of other events, with people paying attention to everything. Just in case, the Spaniard went all out and in his first jump he already set the 17.86 that was sure to be a medal. And so it was. Pichardo, the other triple jumper capable of clearing 18 metres, fell two centimetres short in his second attempt and did not improve.
Behind him, no one even came close, although the Italian Díaz, also of Cuban origin, made his best jump of the season to take bronze (17.64). After Pichardo’s sixth failed attempt, Jordan was able to celebrate his gold, with too much emotion to try anything else, with a legendary coach like Iván Pedroso. The fourth medal for Spanish athletics, as in Barcelona’92.
The day at the Stade de France on Friday saw a surprise for American Rai Benjamin in the 400m hurdles (46.46), who won ahead of world record holder and defending champion, Norwegian Karsten Warholm, with Brazilian Alison dos Santos in third place.
In addition, the afternoon of athletics finals also saw the gold in the 400 metres for the Dominican Marileidy Paulino, who dominated from start to finish with an Olympic record (48.17). The podium was completed by the Bahraini Eid Naser and the Polish Natalia Kaczmarek.
On the other hand, the men’s 4x100m relay saw the United States disqualified and Canada’s gold medal with Andre de Grasse as the last witness. South Africa surprised with silver with an African record of 37.57 and Great Britain took bronze with 37.61. In the women’s 4x100m, the United States did win.
Another impressive gold medal in the heptathlon was won by Belgian Nafissatou Thiam, who also won in Rio de Janeiro 2016 and Tokyo 2020. In addition, Germany’s Yemisi Ogunyele won the women’s shot put with her final throw of 19.68 metres. New Zealand’s Maddison-Lee Wesche finished second with the same 19.68 metres and China’s Song Jiayuan won bronze (19.32 metres).
In the 10,000 metres, Kenyan Béatrice Chebet won her second gold in Paris, in addition to the 5,000m, with a time of 30:43.25. Italy’s Nadia Battocletti set a national record with 30:43.35 for silver and Dutch favourite Hassan eventually took bronze in 30:44.12.
