Camacho-Quinn delivers historic Olympic medal for small country Puerto Rico
Tokyo, Monday
Jasmine Camacho-Quinn won Puerto Rico’s first-ever Olympics athletics gold in the women’s 100 metres hurdles on Monday while Miltiadis Tentoglou became Greece’s first men’s long jump champion.
Dutch distance runner Sifan Hassan kept her bid for an unprecedented treble of 1500 metres, 5,000m and 10,000m alive despite a dramatic fall in the 1500m heats.
Camacho-Quinn dominated the 100m hurdles, not giving world record holder Keni Harrison a sniff of a chance of ending her major championship gold drought.
An emotional Camacho-Quinn said her gold would mean a lot to the people of Puerto Rico, which has a population of around three million.
“For such a small country it gives little people hope,” she said. “I am just glad I am the person to do that. Anything is possible. I am really happy right now.”
European champion Tentoglou saved his best for last to snatch long-jump gold from Cuba’s Juan Miguel Echevarria.
The 23-year-old produced a leap of 8.41 metres to equal Echevarria’s best mark but the Greek had a superior second-best jump (8.15m to 8.09m).
“What an incredible jump, the last jump,” said Tentoglou. “I wasn’t able to get it right at the start. But in the end I managed to pull something out to get the medal.
“I am very lucky.”
Elaine Thompson-Herah is halfway towards repeating her Olympic sprint double from five years ago, with gold already under her belt in the 100m.
The 29-year-old Jamaican eased into the semi-finals, which take place in the evening session at the Olympic Stadium.
American champion Gabby Thomas -- who became the second-fastest woman in history when she won the US trials in 21.61 seconds -- finished second in her heat behind Namibia’s Christine Mboma, who clocked the fastest time in the heats of 22.11sec. -AFP
