By Joiner Martinez
09 Aug 2024, 17:01 PM EDT
Dominican Marileidy Paulino took the gold medal in the 400 meters at the Paris Games, after winning the final with great authority and stopping the clock at 48.15, a new Olympic record.
On the rain-soaked purple track at the Stade de France, Paulino was far superior to his rivals, winning by a considerable distance over the other finalists.
The Dominican sprinter, trained by Cuban Yaseen Pérez, became the fourth fastest woman in history in this discipline and broke the Olympic record, which had been held since July 29, 1996, in Atlanta, by Marie-Jose Perec, who was in charge of lighting the cauldron of these Games on July 26.
The silver medal went to Bahraini athlete Salwa Eid Naser, with 48.53, and the bronze went to Poland’s Natalia Kaczmarek with 48.98.
With no sporting background in her family, 27-year-old Marileidy Paulino grew up playing improvised sports in her hometown of Don Gregorio, an hour’s drive from Santo Domingo.
At eighteen, she was playing handball when the country’s sports minister noticed her talent and recruited her to the athletics federation. She was offered a monthly salary to join the Air Force as a track and field athlete and switched to athletics in 2015.
He started as a 100m and 200m sprinter and moved up to the 400m in 2020.
Presidential Congratulations
Dominican Marileidy Paulino, who won the gold medal at the Paris Games in the women’s 400-meter dash on Friday, where she set a new Olympic record, “has raised the name of the Dominican Republic to the highest level,” said President Luis Abinader.
“Marileidy Paulino fills us with pride once again. With her gold in Paris 2024 and an Olympic record of 48:15 seconds, she has elevated the name of the Dominican Republic to the highest level,” the president wrote on his X network account.
The sprinter is, Abinader added, “an inspiration to all of us.”
Paulino won the 400-meter final on Friday, setting a new Olympic record of 48:15 and becoming the first Dominican woman to win a gold medal at the Games.
The Dominican sprinter, trained by Cuban Yaseen Pérez, became the fourth fastest woman in history in this discipline and broke the Olympic record, which had been held since July 29, 1996, in Atlanta (United States) by Marie-Jose Perec, who was in charge of lighting the cauldron of these Games on July 26.
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