Former Universiade Champion created Commonwealth Games History for his Country

GLASGOW – Former 2011 Summer Universiade Champion O’Dayne Richards created Commonwealth Games history for his country recently, becoming Jamaica’s first gold medallist in an athletics throwing event.

Although Jamaica is best known as the birthplace of iconic sprinters such as Usian Bolt, shot putter O’Dayne Richards created history at the current ongoing Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. He’s now Jamaica’s first gold medallist in a throwing event, taking the top podium spot while not only setting a new national but also a Games record in the process at Hampden Park.

It’s a performance that the 25-year-old University of Technology computing major Richards is hoping will continue to push Jamaican throwers to strong world performances and raise the country’s profile in the events. “I’m hoping that this will inspire the next generation of Jamaican throwers to do great things. They have been doing great things, they are out there and are world-beaters, and I hope this inspires them to go to the next level,” said Richards.

Richards’ star started really shining in 2011 pocketing gold at the 2011 Central American and Caribbean Championships (CAC) and at the 2011 Summer Universiade in Shenzhen, China. In 2013 he prolonged his CAC title. He was also one of the athletes of the FISU CAMPUS team, followed by Eurosport for the CAMPUS series on the dedicated sports channel.

(Source: André Lowe, Sr. Staff Reporter The Gleaner)