Tokyo (AFP)
Germany's Malaika Mihambo became Olympic champion for the first time in her long jump career thanks to a final 7.00m try on Tuesday at the Tokyo Games.
She was ahead of the American Brittney Reese (6.97 m), for her third consecutive Olympic podium, and the Nigerian Ese Brume (also 6.97 m, but a second performance worse than Reese).
Mihambo thus joins one of his sources of inspiration to the Olympic length list, his compatriot Heike Drechsler, titled in 1992 and 2000.
Long third in the competition, she jumped to 7.00 m on her last attempt in a particularly tight final where only three centimeters separated the three athletes on the podium.
This piano and theater lover had planned to move to Houston before the pandemic to join American legend Carl Lewis.
An idea for the moment postponed to the fall.
In 2nd place, Reese joined Drechsler and her compatriot Jackie Joyner-Kersee at the top of the most medal-winning long jumpers in Olympic history, after winning gold in 2012 in London and silver already in Rio in 2016.
This assiduous follower of the NBA, a former basketball player herself very active on social networks, had written "Alex" on her tips Tuesday, the first name of the little boy she adopted five years ago, son of a friend of a long time who could no longer take care of him.
Ese Brume is the first Nigerian on the Olympic podium in length since the title of Chioma Ajunwa in 1996 in Atlanta.
She won the first medal of these Olympics for her country, which had been rather badly noticed so far: the top sprinter Blessing Okagbare had been suspended for doping last week just before the 100m.
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