Triple Jump, Women

Before the Olympics began, athletics’ experts were conceding this gold medal to Venezuelan Yulimar Rojas, with the only questions remaining “How much would she win by?” and “Could she break the world record?”. That record, 15.50, had been set by Ukrainian Inesa Kravets back at the 1995 World Championships and had now stood for 26 years. Rojas was unbeaten in the event going back to 2019 and had won the last two World Championships and the last two World Indoor titles.

In the final Rojas was the second jumper for the first three rounds and she settled things early with 15.41, breaking the Olympic record of 15.39, set by Françoise Mbango of Cameroon back in 2008. No one else was expected to get close to that mark. The next jumper was Portugal’s Patrícia Mamona, who set a national record with 14.91. Cuba’s Liadagmis Povea was in third after the first round with 14.70, a mark she would repeat in round two.

Over the next rounds there were minor changes in the lesser medal positions, as Spain’s Ana Peleteiro moved into third in round two with 14.77 and Jamaican Shanieka Ricketts responded in round four with 14.84 to move up to third. In the fourth round Mamona increased her hold on second by jumping 15.01, further improving the Portuguese best. Rojas showed her dominance in that round with another excellent jump, 15.25.

In round five, Peleteiro jumped 14.87 to move back into third, and that would hold for the bronze medal. Mamona would likewise maintain her second place and take silver.

In the final round, with a trailing wind of only +0.7 m/s, Rojas finally erased Kravets from the record book with a world record leap of 15.67. For Imperial devotees it was the first women’s triple jump over 51 feet at 51-5. Rojas had three marks over 15 metres, only the fifth time that had been done in a series. For Venezuela it was only their third Olympic medal in athletics, oddly all of them in the triple jump, as Rojas had won silver in 2016, and Asnoldo Devonish took bronze for the men back in 1952.