Jasmine Camacho-Quinn wins first gold for Puerto Rico in track and field

Jasmine Camacho-Quinn received first place within the ladies’s 100m hurdle on Monday — Puerto Rico’s first-ever gold medal in observe and discipline.

The 24-year-old athlete redeemed herself 5 years after she was disqualified from the Olympics when she crashed right into a hurdle.

She beat Group USA’s Keni Harrison by .15 seconds in a historic upset that shattered Harrison’s earlier world file within the occasion and made her the second Puerto Rican athlete in historical past to win a gold medal. 

“It actually means quite a bit,” Camacho-Quinn mentioned following the win. 

“This yr I skilled actually laborious. I don’t have a coaching accomplice, I practice on my own, so I gave all of it I had and that is what I needed for this yr. I needed to be a gold medalist and I received it.”

Puerto Rico, a US territory, competes beneath their very own flag within the Olympics and whereas Camacho-Quinn was born in South Carolina and raised within the US, her mom is from the island and the runner needed to symbolize her heritage. 

“I’m fairly certain everyone [in Puerto Rico] is worked up,” the athlete mentioned, according to People. 

“For such a small [territory] it offers little folks hope. I’m simply glad I’m the individual to do this.”

In 2016, Camacho-Quinn did not advance to the finals in Rio de Janeiro after she crashed right into a hurdle and was disqualified from the occasion. 

“I felt embarrassed, like I let the entire nation down,” she mentioned beforehand.

On Monday, she admitted the disqualification nonetheless stings and was involved historical past would repeat itself in Tokyo. 

“It stays with me on a regular basis as a result of I’m continually reminded. Any individual all the time messages me and says sorry for what occurred. Yesterday I type of had a breakdown as a result of I didn’t need the identical factor to occur once more,” Camacho-Quinn mentioned. 

Regardless of the strain that comes with competing within the Olympics, the runner tried to recollect what she discovered in her follow periods and hold a transparent head. 

“I simply needed to deal with each race like there isn’t a distinction to every other competitors. Simply because it’s the Olympics doesn’t imply it is best to change up one thing,” the athlete defined.

“I ran my race and what I’ve completed within the races is what I all the time do in follow. I repeated every part.”

With Submit wires