This is Cathal Dennehy’s second piece on the World Indoors. He will send one more story for the World Indoor Glasgow 2024 Championships.
Thea LaFond gives Domenica its first medal at the World Indoors Glasgow 2024!
by Catha Dennehy
As she stood in the mixed zone after the women’s triple jump final in Glasgow on Sunday, Thea LaFond was draped in the flag of Dominica, beaming with pride.
A medal. At last. A gold medal.
Dominica had never won one of the colors at the World Indoors. The tiny Caribbean island nation, with a population of just 72,000, had just enjoyed its most significant athletics victory.
“I’m really proud to have done what I did,” she said. I’m so proud to be from this small, beautiful country, this powerful country. I really hope today was an inspiration that brought joy to my people. This will probably hit at 2 a.m., and I’ll end up sobbing in my pajamas, but until then, all I can say is how grateful I am to represent Dominica.”
LaFond was born in Dominica and lived there until age six, when her family moved to the United States, initially settling in New Jersey before relocating to Silver Spring, Maryland. Her start in athletics came about curiously, with her mother telling her in her first year of high school that she couldn’t go directly home after school and to find an activity. LaFond’s friends did track and field and convinced her to join them.
“And I’m the last one doing it,” she laughs.
Until that point, she’d primarily been a dancer. LaFond was classically trained from the age of six, doing ballet, ta,p, and jazz, but little did she know how well those skills would stand to her when it came to the triple jump.
“It all played into body awareness,” she says. When you spend four or five hours in front of a mirror with an instructor telling you precisely how to fix something very technical, you learn to face criticism and make these small, refined changes. I think those tumbled into track and field.”
LaFond also played volleyball early in high school, which lasted just one semester. “After freshman year, my volleyball coaches were like, ‘I think you should stick with track, there’s something special there.’”
They were right.
LaFond won a horde of state titles in high school across a…
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