Roje Stona Wins Jamaica’s First Gold at Paris Olympics: Sets Olympic Discus Record
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August 7, 2024
On Wednesday, Jamaican athlete Roje Stona surprised the world by winning gold in the Men’s discus at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. He managed to set a new Olympic record by throwing the discus a distance of 70.00 metres.
World record holder Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania was the favourite going into the Olympics, he also managed to break the previous Olympic record which was set by his father 20 years ago, by throwing a silver winning distance of 69.97.
Stona threw his personal best and the new record of 70.00 metres moments after Alekna had broken his father’s previous record. This is Jamaica’s first medal in history in the Discus event at the Games.
“I knew I had nothing to lose so I just went for it,” Stona told reporters after winning gold. Stona was a name that not many Jamaicans knew about before today. Going into the Olympics, the big names were Thompson, Fraser-Pryce, Jackson and others.
However, so far several field athletes have performed beyond expectations with Shanieka Ricketts winning silver in the triple jump, plus Rajindra Campbell winning bronze in the shot put.
Wayne Pinnock also medalled in the long jump, taking home silver for jumping 8.36M (-0.2).
Currently, Jamaican has won one(1) gold, three(3) silver and one(1) bronze medal, a total of 5 medals.
Watch the record throw below:
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