Camryn Rogers of Canada Secures Gold in Hammer Throw, Men’s Basketball Team Falters in Quarterfinals

August 6, 2024 TruthUSA

Canada’s Camryn Rogers secured first place in the women’s hammer throw event at the Paris 2024 Olympics, making her the country’s inaugural Olympic medalist in the discipline.

On August 6, during her fourth attempt, the athlete from Richmond, B.C., hurled 76.97 meters, marking her longest throw. In the qualifying round, her throw of 74.69 meters ranked as the second-farthest distance in that phase.

The United States claimed second place in the women’s hammer throw event, with Nneka Echikunwoke achieving a throw of 75.48 meters, while China secured third place after Jie Zhao’s 74.27-meter throw.

Rogers’ gold medal represents the nation’s third-ever victory in a women’s athletics event at the Olympics. The last time a Canadian woman clinched gold in athletics at the Olympics was in 1928 in Amsterdam, with Ethel Catherwood winning the high jump and the women’s 4 x 100m relay.

Rogers clinched the world champion title at the 2023 World Athletics Championship. A year prior, she won a silver medal at the 2022 World Athletics Championship and also broke the Canadian record with a throw of 77.67 meters, securing her third National Collegiate Athletic Association title in Oregon.

Her Olympic debut was at Tokyo in 2020, where she made history as the first Canadian woman to advance to the finals of the women’s hammer throw at the Olympics. Rogers was also the youngest competitor and finished fifth overall.

Competing in hammer throwing since 2012 at the age of 13, Rogers carries a silver pendant gifted by her high school coach to each competition.

Shortly after Canada’s Ethan Katzberg, the youngest-ever world champion in 2023, triumphed in the men’s hammer throw event on August 4 with his initial throw of 84.12 meters, Poland became the only other country to secure gold medals in both men’s and women’s hammer throw at the same Olympic games.

Canada Falls in Men’s Basketball

In a quarter-final game against France on August 6, the Canadian men’s basketball team strived but failed to emerge victorious, as France claimed an 82–73 win, subsequently setting up a match against Germany in the competition.

Reuters contributed to this article.

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