ATHLETICS – Jorinde van Klinken (24) from Assen finished seventh tonight during the Olympic final of the discus throw. She got stuck at a disappointing distance of 63 meters and 35 centimeters.
With that, she remained far from her personal record. That is very sharp at 70 meters and 22 centimeters and dates back to May 2021. She achieved that performance in the American Arizona where she was studying at the time. This season, during the Diamond League competition in Paris, she already reached a distance of 67 meters 23 centimeters.
Afterwards, the thrower from Assen had no explanation for her mediocre performance in front of the NOS camera. “I don’t know what kind of final this was, I think it was pure disappointment. It feels so stupid that you know what you can do. It doesn’t do myself or all those wonderful people who are here in the stadium to cheer me on. That feels pretty stupid actually.”
Van Klinken started tonight’s match full of energy and with a lot of self-confidence. “I think I’ve proven time and time again that I only need one attempt. It’s worth nothing now. But I think I was capable of competing for gold here. So that belief remained and I went all in until the last attempt. It’s just really bizarre that it’s always worked out so far. And I don’t really know why it didn’t work out tonight.”
American Valerie Allman extended her Olympic title from three years ago. In Paris tonight she reached 69 meters and 50 centimeters. Silver went to Bin Feng from China and bronze went to Sandra Elkasevic from Croatia.
Van Klinken kicked off with a throw of 63 meters and 35 centimeters, which put her in fifth place. She then threw 61 meters and 50 centimeters in her second attempt, which dropped her to sixth place in the intermediate rankings. Her third, fourth and fifth attempts missed the right direction and ended in the net. In her final attempt, she only managed 51 meters and 23 centimeters.
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