Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper): Nafissatou Thiam dominated the Paris Olympics with a personal best in shot put of 15.54 meters and led the heptathlon, before vaulting to great performances in the long jump and javelin to really stamp her mark on the competition despite lying well behind Katarina Johnson-Thompson overall.
Thiam did something incredible during her time in Paris last Thursday at the Olympic Games for which she has won two Olympic medals before. During this event she threw the shot put a record distance of 15.54 meters which took her into first place in the heptathlon contest. This great throw earned her 897 points altogether.
On Friday Thiam excelled in long jump with a leap of 6.41m earning 978 points which put her second overall behind Vidts who also performed well taking off from a 6.40m jump that added up to 975 points and gave him third place position in terms of overall ranking . Despite having 4985 total points . She still trailed British athlete Katarina by some distance.
How Did Thiam and Vidts Perform in Javelin Event?
Everybody was thrown off guard following an excellent javelin throw Vidts delivered on Friday. She broke three personal bests at 45 meters. The feat saw her close in on American Anna Hall for the bronze overall title race. As the top player through-out Thiam showed her class in the javelin event. The second-best throw was a 54.04 by Poland Wlodarczyk displaying the American needs to be much sharper with her precision and skill set before Rio arrives in two months time. This margin was not only long but also created a significant gap between herself and the other competitors.
Thiam threw yards upon yards, leaving the nearest athlete almost two meters behind her. It was evident that she was indeed the best athlete in javelin throwing with strange abilities. It was this superb performance that made coaches believe she was their very best.
