Games of the XXXII Olympiad

LSU Track & Field was represented by 12 current and former athletes from six countries around the world as they joined the sports greatest athletes in Tokyo at the 2020 Olympic Games. Three Tigers secured gold medals - Mondo Duplantis (pole vault), Michael Cherry (4x400m relay), and Vernon Norwood (4x400m relay) were awarded gold medals in their respective events. Duplantis was competing for Sweden, while Cherry and Norwood ran for Team USA.

The LSU track and field program had heavy representation at the Tokyo Olympics with 10 athletes who competed and combined to win six medals. The six medals were the most won at an Olympics Games by LSU alumni besting the previous number of five from 2004 in Athens.

Mondo Duplantis, the 21-year old phenom that was born to fly, won his first Olympic gold medal on Tuesday (August 3) at the Tokyo Olympics with a clearance of 19’ 9” (6.02 meters) in the pole vault.

Duplantis became the eighth athlete in LSU track and field history to win a gold medal at the Olympics joining the likes of Glenn ‘Slats’ Hardin (1936/400 hurdles), Sheila Echols (1988/4x100m Relay), Esther Jones (1992/4x100m Relay), Glenroy Gilbert (1996/4x100m Relay), Derrick Brew (2004/4x400m Relay), Kelly Willie (2004/4x400m Relay), and Richard Thompson (2008/4x100m Relay). While he’s the eighth track and field athlete to win gold, he’s only the second to win an individual gold medal joining the likes of the legendary Glenn Hardin.

Duplantis had achieved many things coming into these Olympics – the world record, European gold, a world medal – but he had never won a gold medal on the senior level at a world meet, but that all changed Tokyo. Duplantis entered with a massive clearance of 18’ 2.50” (5.55 meters) before passing at a height of 18’ 8.25” (5.70 meters). He then cleared a bar of 19’ 0.25” (5.80 meters) and was one of only eight competitors remaining.

Duplantis elected to pass at a height of 19’ 3” (5.87 meters) before the bar moved up to 19’ 5” (5.92 meters). When the bar moved to 19’ 5” only four competitors remained. Duplantis cleared the bar with ease at the height of 19’ 5”, and Chris Nilsen (USA) was the only other vaulter to clear 19’ 5”. So it was the two of them battling it out for gold.

The bar moved up to 19’ 7” (5.97 meters) where both Duplantis and Nilsen got up and over the bar on their first attempts. This was a familiar scene as these two were the final two competitors at the 2019 NCAA outdoor meet where Nilsen actually beat Mondo, but this was a different day. As the bar went up to 19’ 9” (6.02 meters), Mondo cleared the bar with a scintillating clearance with much more room, while Nilsen was unable to get over in three tries. The height of 19’ 9” was the bar that won Mondo the Olympic gold.

MICHAEL CHERRY (second from the left) KELLY-ANN BAPTISTE

DID YOU KNOW? Former Lady Tiger sprinter Kelly-Ann Baptiste made her fifth Olympic Games appearance when she lined up for Trinidad & Tobago in both the 100 meters and 4x100-meter relay at the Tokyo Olympics. Baptiste also served as Trinidad & Tobago’s flag bearer at the Opening Ceremony.

Vernon Norwood and Michael Cherry became the ninth and 10th LSU athletes to win gold at the Olympics as members of Team USA’s 4x400 meter relay. Norwood ran in the qualifying heat to advance the Americans with a time of 2:57.7, and Cherry ran in the finals as Team USA won with a time of 2:55.70. Norwood also earned bronze with as a member of Team USA’s mixed relay.

Aleia Hobbs (USA) and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake (Great Britain) both secured silvers in the 4x100 meter relay. Hobbs ran in the qualifying round and helped USA advance with a time of 41.90, and Mitchell-Blake anchored the Brits to silver in the finals with a time of 37.51.

Each of these athletes added to an already proud tradition for the LSU Track & Field program at the Olympic Games that includes 69 different athletes representing 17 different nations since Sid Bowman became the first to compete for the United States in Amsterdam way back in 1928. Since then, LSU’s athletes have won 23 Olympic medals all-time, including nine gold, nine silver and five bronze medals. Zimbabwe became the 17th country represented by an LSU Track & Field athlete when Mvumvure qualified for the first time in 2016 as other nationalities include Algeria, Bahamas, Barbados, Canada, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Liberia, The Netherlands, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts & Nevis, Sweden, Trinidad & Tobago and the United Kingdom along with the United States. JuVaughn Harrison (pictured above) represented the United States at the Tokyo Olympics in both the long jump and high jump after he swept titles in both events at the U.S. Olympic Trials. He was the first man to compete in both events for Team USA since Jim Thorpe did so in 1912.

LSU ATHLETES AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES

ATHLETE Kelly-Ann Baptiste (Trinidad & Tobago) Michael Cherry (USA) Mondo Duplantis (Sweden) JuVaughn Harrison (USA) Akanni Hislop (Trinidad & Tobago) Aleia Hobbs (USA) Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake (Great Britain) Vernon Norwood (USA) Damion Thomas (Jamaica) Richard Thompson (Trinidad & Tobago) FINISH/EVENT 39th-100 Meters, 15th-43.62 4th-400 Meters, 1st-4x400 Relay 1st-Pole Vault 7th-Long Jump, 5th-High Jump 13th-4x100 Relay 2nd-4x100 Relay 20th-200 Meters, 2nd-4x100 Relay 3rd-Mixed 4x400 Relay, 1st-4x400 Relay 11th-110 Hurdles 13th-4x100 Relay