Last Saturday at Stade de France in Paris, Thea LaFond became the Olympic champion in the women’s triple jump — bringing immense pride to the state of Maryland.
LaFond is a Montgomery County resident who developed as a track and field athlete at John F. Kennedy High and the University of Maryland. However, LaFond represents her native country of Dominica on the international stage and brought great glory to the tiny island located in the Caribbean Sea, winning the nation’s first Olympic medal.
Almost 4,000 miles away, LaFond’s younger brother was on the Navy football practice field along the banks of the Severn River when the triple jump results became official.
Coach Brian Newberry was informed of the news and waited for a break in practice to deliver it. He had all the players gather on the sideline then called for Chreign LaFond to step forward.
“Hey, your sister just won a gold medal,” Newberry loudly proclaimed.
A clearly emotional Chreign LaFond went weak in the knees and was wrapped in a huge bear hug by strength and conditioning coordinator Jim Kiritsy. Meanwhile, the entire team immediately erupted in celebration, cheering wildly then mobbing LaFond while slapping him on the back and the helmet.
Video of the entire scene was posted to the Navy Football account on X, formerly Twitter, with the caption: “The moment when you find out your sister won a gold medal at the Olympics! Congratulations Thea LaFond.”
That video went viral after being aired on Good Morning America and has drawn almost seven million impressions. Thea LaFond herself watched the video and posted a reply.
“Thank you for sharing our story. My brother was so sad he wasn’t there. I’m happy his teammates were able to celebrate with him,” she wrote.
The moment when you find out your sister won a gold medal at the Olympics!
Congratulations Thea LaFond!#GoNavy | #RollGoats pic.twitter.com/38p4NGpsXK
See AlsoDominica National Lottery Promo CodeVolleyball recap, Aug. 3: Dominican Republic win sends Netherlands, Japan crashing outCatching up after the weekend? Here are the top results and all on one page … - Friends of FootballOlympics 2024 LIVE: Watch France vs USA in women's basketball final - medals, results, TV stream & updates from Paris— Navy Football (@NavyFB) August 3, 2024
Thea LaFond posted the winning jump on her third attempt, hitting her final takeoff perfectly and soaring 15.02 meters (49 ¼-feet), a personal and national record that came after advice from Aaron Gadson, her coach and husband.
“[Aaron] came to me and he said, ‘Listen, there is torrential downpour coming in 20 minutes. You have to do something big now because the weather is not going to be on your side.’ We had to put it together right then and there.”
LaFond came through in the clutch with the winning jump that no one else could touch. As Gadson predicted, the storm hit and soaked the triple jump runway with the wet conditions hampering the performance of all the jumpers.
“It’s an understatement to say it’s a really big deal,” LaFond said during a joint news conference with the other medalists. “Sometimes you wonder if being from a small country means that you have less accessibility to resources, but we’ve been really big on [prioritizing] quality and just executing it.”
Back in Annapolis, Chreign LaFond was following the women’s triple jump as best he could amidst football activities. At last check, the junior defensive end knew his sister had taken the lead but knew there was still a long way to go.
“After position meetings I looked at the live results and saw that [Thea] was in first place. I knew coming out here [to practice] that she had a good chance of winning it all,” LaFond told the media Tuesday morning.
When Newberry beckoned him to take center stage, LaFond had a feeling it was to announce that his sister had won a medal — he just didn’t know which color. Hearing gold was a huge relief.
“It was just a surreal feeling. For my sister to represent Dominica on such a huge scale and for all the guys to support me and my family means everything,” LaFond said.
Prior to Saturday’s event final, Chreign sent his sister a text message that incorporated the Navy football motto: “Expect to Win. I love you. Let’s Go!”
“Honestly, I did expect it. I knew she was going to win,” LaFond said.
Newberry credited Ronnie Gillis, director of creative design for Navy football, with tipping him off that Thea won gold. He felt it was important to announce the momentous news to the entire team so Chreign could feel the love.
“To see the emotion on his face when he found out was awesome,” Newberry said. “It was good that Chreign got to share that moment with his brothers.”
Remarkable journey
Dr. Dorian LaFond and Dr. Ernestine Theophile-LaFond initially came to the United States to pursue a college education. Dorian graduated from Texas A&M, while Ernestine earned a degree from the University of Steubenville in Ohio. They returned to Dominica to get married and that is where Thea was born.
Job opportunities brought the family back to the United States and they settled in Silver Spring after Dorian took a job with the United States Department of Agriculture and Ernestine became a communications professor at Montgomery College.
Thea was a classically trained dancer up until age 13 when her family could no longer afford lessons. She discovered track and field at Kennedy High and still jokes about doing ballet jumps over the barriers as a fledgling hurdler.
LaFond developed into a top tier multi-event athlete, capturing Class 3A outdoor state championships in four events (100-meter hurdles, high jump, long jump, triple jump) as a senior in 2011.
Kennedy coach Kevin Monroe contacted Maryland coach Andrew Valmon to encourage him to recruit LaFond. Monroe described LaFond as the “real deal” and said Valmon would not regret taking a chance on her. Valmon ended up luring her away from a verbal commitment to Penn State.
“The pitch was, ‘If you want to write your legacy, stay local and be the face of this state.’ That was many years ago, and fast forward to now and she has become the face of the state,” Valmon said from Paris, where he is supporting Maryland assistant coach and U.S. hammer thrower Rudy Winkler.
In 2015, LaFond was named Field Athlete of the Year after winning the triple jump and placing third in the long jump at the Big Ten Championships.
LaFond represented Dominica at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. She failed to qualify for the final in 2016 and finished last among the 12 finalists in 2020.
Valmon credits Gadson with improving LaFond’s technique and transforming her into one of the world’s top triple jumpers. LaFond took a huge step forward in March when she captured the gold medal at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland.
“They’ve done a really nice job of perfecting her technique and getting the most out of her phases,” Valmon said. “She’s really maximizing each phase, and that’s going to give her distance. And if you couple that with her tenacity and work ethic… Thea is a gamer. She knows how to compete and is not afraid.”
LaFond had a strong support group at Stade de France for the triple jump final. In addition to her parents, former Maryland athletic trainer Kala Flagg and current Maryland association head coach Danielle Siebert were on hand.
LaFond is the first former Maryland track and field athlete to medal at the Olympics. She is the 10th former Maryland athlete to earn a gold medal. Of course, that took a backseat to being the first Olympic medalist from Dominica, a tiny Carribbean nation of just over 70,000, not to be confused with the separate nation, the Dominican Republic.
Following a different path
Chreign LaFond did not follow in his sister’s footsteps by pursuing track and field. He was fully focused on soccer up until his freshman year at Kennedy. He transferred to Archbishop Carroll and was recruited by Navy, spending the 2021-22 academic year at the prep school in Newport, Rhode Island.
As a sophomore in 2023, LaFond appeared in seven games as a backup defensive end and recorded two tackles. The 6-foot-5, 262-pounder had a strong spring camp and is currently listed second on the depth chart behind starter Justin Reed.
“I can’t let there be any dropoff between me and J Reed. I try to mimic everything he does,” LaFond said.
Navy defensive line coach Jerrick Hall described LaFond as a “lunch pail” type of player and predicts he will make an impact this season.
Chreign, whose first name is a combination of Christ’s reign, is nine years younger than Thea. He admits wondering how to live up to the legacy of a sister who was always winning championships and bringing home medals.
Chreign has not been to Dominica since 2017 but said his parents return to their home country as often as possible to see family members. They are all part of a group chat of LaFond immediate family members and close relatives.
Whenever he wants to relish what his sister accomplished and simply smile, LaFond pulls up video from the group chat that shows the Dominica citizens celebrating.
“People are dancing in the streets and bars are throwing parties. The whole nation is behind her,” said LaFond, noting that Dominica would likely hold a parade for Thea at some point.
Baltimore Sun staff writer Ed Lee contributed to this story.
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