Venezuela’s Yulimar Rojas set a world record, the first to be broken in athletics at the Tokyo Games, as she won Olympic gold in the triple jump.
Rojas, the silver medallist at Rio 2016, jumped 15.67 metres to smash the previous best of 15.50 metres set by Ukraine’s Inessa Kravets in 1995, two months before Rojas was born.
A mural in Caracas shows Yulimar Rojas jumping over Angel Falls, the world’s tallest uninterrupted waterfall.
Rojas’ achievements, which include world titles in 2017 and 2019, mean that she is already a national hero in Venezuela, where a mural depicting her leaping over Angel Falls has been painted in the capital Caracas, near to where she grew up.
Her popularity is likely to soar even further after her record-breaking effort in Tokyo, which came on her sixth and final jump after gold had already been assured.
Portugal’s Patricia Mamona jumped a national best of 15.01 metres to take silver, with Spaniard, Ana Peleteiro also setting a national record of 14.87 metres to claim bronze.
