Best performance in the sixth attempt
Gold coup by shot putter Yemisi Ogunleye
09.08.2024, 20:46
Gold with 20.00 meters: Shot putter Yemisi Ogunleye is Olympic champion. The German improved her personal best in her last attempt with strong nerves and outperformed all her competitors.
Shot putter Yemisi Ogunleye has sensationally won gold at the Olympic Games in Paris. The 25-year-old managed 20.00 metres in her last attempt at the Stade de France. The runner-up at the World Indoor Championships and third at the European Championships thus secured the German athletics team’s first gold at these games.
Silver went to New Zealander Maddison-Lee Wesche with 19.86 meters, while Song Jiayun from China took bronze with 19.32 meters.
Alina Kenzel from Stuttgart took ninth place with 18.29 meters, Katharina Maisch was eliminated in the qualification. There, Ogunleye only made it into the final in the third and last attempt. World champion Chase Jackson from the USA was unable to qualify.
For the German athletics team, it is the fourth medal at the Paris Games. This means that the association’s target has even been exceeded. Decathlete Leo Neugebauer and long jumper Malaika Mihambo each won silver, and the women’s sprint relay team took bronze shortly before Ogunleye’s gold coup in the 4×100 meters.
The shower that fell during the relay race had made the shot put ring slippery. Ogunleye, who was doing the spin put, slipped on her first attempt and hit her knee, but had then adjusted to the conditions in the evening sun.
With her second attempt at 19.55 meters, she catapulted herself into second place. With her fifth attempt, Ogunleye briefly took the lead, but Wesche immediately countered. But with her last attempt, Ogunleye managed to create a sensation.