Elliott Denman, our most enduring senior writer, writes this, his third column on the Paris Olympics, on Thea LaFond and her wonderful, happy country of Domenica!
(A) NEW JERSEY TRACK ATHLETE
AND (B) OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST
REMIND THE WORLD:
IT’S DOMINICA, NOT THE DOMINICAN REPUBIC.
BY ELLIOTT DENMAN
Maria Paul is my clubmate.
She’s the tall, always-smiling pride and joy of the Shore AC Masters team, a state champion on the track, and occasional shot putter, too.
So when Maria’s smiling over the latest round of Olympic
events, I’m smiling, too.
Monday’s conversation went this way:
Said Maria: “They’re always asking me, ‘why don’t I talk Spanish?’
“So I ask them back, ‘why should I?’
“And they say, ‘but I thought everybody from the Dominican
Republic spoke Spanish.’
“And I tell them I’m from Dominica, not the Dominican Republic, and they speak English in Dominica.
“And they say, ‘are you telling me they’re different places?’
“And I tell them ‘yes-yes-yes, they certainly are different places, very different.’
“And they say, ‘well I never knew.’ “
My friend Maria will have to enlighten the world a lot more from here on out.
One more of the Olympic Games’ most enduring values is this: There’s nothing better than an Olympic gold medal to teach a geography lesson.
And triple jumper Thea LaFond, representing Dominica, turned herself into a world-class teacher at Stade de France last Saturday night.
By triple-bounding meters 15.02 meters/49 feet, 3 ½ inches, the 30- year-old LaFond, not only inscribed her name in the golden list of super Olympic achievers, but put the name of her home island-nation into those archives forever and ever, too.
“Oh, I am sure there will be a big parade for her when she gets back home,” said my teammate Maria.
“People on Dominica always like parades.
“Any time they have a happy occasion, they have a parade.”
Actually, Maria wasn’t born on Dominica. She first saw the light of day in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. She then spent many of her growing-up days in Dominica, before coming to the U.S., which doesn’t make her any less of a Dominica ambassador.
Thea LaFond had some similar travels.
She came to the U.S. as a kid to build a better life, too.
The LaFonds settled into Maryland and she attended John F. Kennedy High School in Silver Spring, just outside Washington, DC, and…
CLICK HERE to Read the Full Original Article at runblogrun…