Olympian Profile: Thea LaFond – University of Maryland Athletics

She became the first Maryland track and field alum to medal in the Olympics. She is the 10th Gold medalist in Maryland history and the first Terp student-athlete to win Gold since Vicky Bullett in 1988. She hit the personal-best mark after going 14.35 meters (47-feet, 1 inch) in the qualifying round. The result was also history for her Caribbean island nation as the country’s first ever Olympic medal.

She earned gold at Glasgow in 2024 to also become the first person from Dominica to win a World Championship gold medal. To accomplish this feat, LaFond set a then-national record of 15.01m in the women’s triple jump. 

She also competed at the Commonwealth Games, earning silver at Birmingham 2022 and bronze at Gold Coast 2018. She even made history as the first Dominican athlete to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games.

LaFond, a Silver Spring, Md. native, moved to Maryland at age 7. She earned multiple All-American honors in her collegiate career at Maryland as a multi-event athlete from 2011-15. In 2015, the track star was named Big Ten Field Athlete of the Year. 

LaFond set the highest-ever women’s triple jump score in the University of Maryland’s school history (44-02.75), which still stands today. LaFond still holds other top-five all-time marks at Maryland, including the second-best all-time finish in the indoor triple jump and indoor 60m hurdles, the third-best indoor high jump mark, and the fourth-best indoor long jump mark.

LaFond serves as a special education and fitness and health substitute teacher at John F. Kennedy High School — her alma mater — to support her athletic career. She is also an assistant cross country and track and field coach at Northwest High School.