Chreign LaFond wasn’t able to watch his sister win Olympic gold, but he still had the celebration of the lifetime.
LaFond is a defensive end for Navy, while his sister Thea represented the Dominican Republic in the women’s triple jump in Paris.
On Saturday, Thea won the event, giving the Caribbean island its first-ever Olympic medal, let alone gold.
Chreign was at practice while Thea was competing, but head coach Brian Newberry delivered the news.
“Hey, your sister just won a gold medal,” Newberry said.
He was then mobbed by the rest of his teammates.
Thea also won the event at the world indoor championships this past March, so she was the one to beat.
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“It’s an understatement to say it’s a really big deal,” Thea said after her victory about giving the Dominican a long-awaited medal. “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.”
Thea, 30, was born in the Dominican Republic, but came to the U.S. at the age of 5. Her younger brother was born in the United States, and attended Archbishop Carroll High School in Washington, D.C. The Paris Games marked her third Olympics.
Thea was actually a dancer before turning to track as a teen, as her parents could no longer afford dance lessons.
She leaped 15.02 on her second attempt, which was the winning jump. Shanieka Ricketts of Jamaica took silver at 14.87 and Jasmine Moore of the U.S. got bronze at 14.67.
Chreign has appeared in seven career games, and he enters his junior year this season.
Navy went 5-7 last season, and 4-4 in AAC play. They kick off their 2024 campaign on Aug. 31 against Bucknell.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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