PARIS – Three centimeters.
One and one-quarter inch.
A thumbnail.
That’s how close Shanieka Ricketts came to a medal in the women’s triple jump three years ago in Tokyo, instead narrowly finishing fourth and experiencing what is known as the loneliest place in the Olympics.
“It is true,” Ricketts said. “It played into my mind. I said, ‘I can’t allow that to happen again.’ It was a constant reminder. As the rounds progressed, I just made sure that didn’t happen because I don’t think I could live with coming fourth again.”
It didn’t happen. She had a silver medal around her neck Saturday.
Ricketts becomes the fifth San Diego State alum to win an Olympic medal (and just the second since 1984) and the first Jamaican to reach the podium in the triple jump.
But not the first Caribbean athlete to do it on track’s first full night of competition.
The collection of islands claimed five of 12 individual medals contested Saturday at Stade de France, which could hold a few of their populations with room to spare. And that included a women’s 100 meters without all three Jamaicans who swept the medals in Tokyo – two from injury and two-time champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Price from a late scratch moments before the semifinals.
Julien Alfred of St. Lucia (population 179,857) was the surprise winner of the 100, leaving American favorite Sha’Carri Richardson in the blocks and crossing the line in a personal-best 10.72 seconds on a wet track. Thea LaFond of Dominica (population 72,737) won the triple jump for the first medal in its history. Grenada’s Lindon Victor got the bronze in decathlon, and Jamaica’s Rajindra Campbell broke up an expected U.S. sweep with a bronze in men’s shot put.
“It is unbelievable how these tiny islands are cranking out such high-quality athletes,” LaFond said. “I’m so grateful for Julien, because I saw her get that gold (at indoor worlds) and I was like, I’m getting a gold, too. I saw her get that gold (tonight) and I was like, well, I’m getting my gold, too.
“Maybe it’s copying, maybe it’s twinning. Whatever it is, we’re making history for our islands. Now we can bring hardware that will last forever. Records come and go. Olympic medals are forever.”
Ricketts certainly understands that, sticking around at 32 to chase the one thing that had eluded her in an otherwise illustrious career. She won two outdoor NCAA titles at SDSU, twice finished on the podium at world championships and was first in the annual Diamond League circuit of international track meets.
She’s from Saint Thomas Parish, on Jamaica’s southeastern tip. Shortly after becoming SDSU’s track coach, Shelia Burrell sent assistant Carjay Lyles to the island’s high school championships looking for talent. Then known as Shanieka Thomas, she finished fourth in the triple jump. She also wanted to be high jumper in college.
But Burrell and Lyles saw the potential and convinced her to attend college 2,700 miles from home, then convinced her to stick with the horizontal instead of vertical jump.
“It paid off,” Ricketts said. “I’m grateful for that. They took me under their wings and treated me well, and that chapter of my life set up where I am professionally as well.”
It helped that world-record holder and four-time world champion Yulimar Rojas of Venezuela was injured and not in Paris, and LaFord took advantage with a jump of 49 feet, 3½ inches in the second round. Ricketts went 48-9½ on her second attempt to climb into second place, where she stayed.
No one else got within seven inches.
“Going into an Olympics, you don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Ricketts, who is coached by her husband, Kerrylee Ricketts. “I was a favorite to medal (in Tokyo) and I had been jumping well. I just got knocked out. I knew it could possibly go the same way tonight.”
It didn’t, not for her, not for the Caribbean.
Alfred, 23, admitted being overwhelmed at the 2023 worlds, where she finished fifth in the 100 and fourth in 200. But with three Jamaican sprint queens all out – Fraser-Price, Elaine Thompson Herah and Shericka Jackson – she faced a diluted field that Richardson was supposed to dominate.
She woke up at 5 a.m. Saturday and wrote in her journal: Julien Alfred, Olympic champion. She spent much of the day watching videos of Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt for inspiration.
It also was the first Olympic medal for St. Lucia.
“To be from a small place, and St. Lucia is a small place, and be on the global stage, it means a lot,” said Alfred, who moved to Jamaica for high school, then won multiple NCAA titles at Texas.
Richardson was a distant second after a dreadful start, the .15-second margin being the widest in an Olympic women’s 100 final since 2008. She then skipped the mandatory news conference for medalists, continuing a trend among U.S. athletes of blowing through interview areas when things go poorly (while their international counterparts patiently answer questions).
The evening started well, with Ryan Crouser and Joe Kovacs going 1-2 in the shot put. Kovacs dramatically went from fourth to second on his final throw despite a slippery ring from unexpected evening rains.
But then came the mixed 4×400-meter relay, a contrived, made-for-TV event that has track purists cringing. The U.S. typically doesn’t bother fielding its strongest male and female runners, and it paid the price when Dutch star Femke Bol took the baton for the anchor leg and ran down the American team from a good 15 meters back.
Then Alfred shocked Richardson in the 100. Then the 30-year-old LaFond gave Dominica something to smile about after a Category 5 hurricane ravaged the island in 2017.
“Every time I go through something difficult, I think back to my country,” said LaFond, who finished 12th and 37th at the last two Olympics. “I watched as all the lines went silent as the hurricane was going by my homeland. I was there in the States and felt hopeless. I could do nothing. Every time something big or dramatic happens in my life, I think back to those moments. If my little island can rebuild after heartbreak, then I can get my butt up after practice and keep striving to be better, and that’s what I did.
“And here I am today. My country has 70,000 people. Logically, this is not supposed to be happening.”
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