Pichardo won the competition with a jump of 17.98 meters, winning the first gold medal for Portugal in Tokyo2020, after Patrícia Mamona’s silver in the women’s triple jump and judoka Jorge Fonseca’s bronze (-100 kg) and canoeist Fernando Pimenta (K1 1.000).
Portugal surpassed the results achieved in Los Angeles 1984 and Athens2004, editions in which it rose to the podium three times, reaching a total of 28 medals in the Olympic Games (five gold, nine silver and 14 bronze), 12 of which in athletics, a sport that it also provided the five Olympic titles.
The 28-year-old Cuban-born athlete made his best jump of 17.98 meters on the third attempt and beat his national record by three centimeters, beating Chinese Yaming Zhu with 17.57. and Fabrice Zango, from Burkina Faso, with 17.47, who won the silver and bronze medals, respectively.
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Congratulations arrive from everywhere
The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, immediately congratulated the athlete for winning the gold medal, highlighting the best Portuguese participation ever.
“In what is already Portugal’s best participation in the Games of the Modern Era, Pedro Pichardo achieved the glory of Olympic gold, the fifth of these medals in the history of Portugal“, refers to a message published on the official website of the Presidency of the Republic.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa thanked, “on behalf of Portugal and the Portuguese“, the performance of the athlete from Benfica.
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The Minister of Education, Tiago Brandão Rodrigues, and athlete Nelson Évora also congratulated the new Olympic champion.
Jorge Pichardo, father and coach of Pedro Pichardo, defended that his descendant “there is still a lot to conquer for the country”.
Titles don’t deceive
Pedro Pablo Pichardo is 28 years old, born in Santiago de Cuba on June 30, 1993.
With Cuban nationality, he won two silver medals at the World Athletics Championships, and a bronze medal at the World Indoor Championships. With Portuguese nationality, he won the European Championship on an indoor track.
Pedro Pichardo’s first relevant international triumph took place in the city of Barcelona at the 2012 Junior World Championship. In that competition, he recorded a 16.79 m mark.
In 2013 he started his career in the senior category, achieving first place in the Diamond League in the meeting in Lausanne with a mark of 17.58 m.
In 2018, still representing Cuba, he won the Doha event with a jump of 17.95 m, on May 4, in the Diamond League.
On July 5th, he was already representing Portugal at the meeting in Lausanne, achieving second place with a mark of 17.61 m.
On March 7, 2021, in Torun, Poland, Pichardo won the European title on an indoor track, with a large advantage over all the competition. In qualifying, he was the only athlete to reach a mark over 17 meters (17.03 meters), reaching 17.30 meters in the final.
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