Photo: O’Dayne Richards performing at the World Championships in Beijing, China last month. (Gettty Images)
O’Dayne Richards struck another high note in his career, when he rose to the occasion to secure Jamaica’s first medal at the recently concluded 15th IAAF World Championship in Beijing China.
This has given a boost to an already good resume, which includes the Commonwealth Games Gold in 2014, Pan American Gold in 2015, CAC Gold and two time World University Games gold.
Richards made history by winning Jamaica’s first ever medal in the men’s shot put at a senior championships.
The Commonwealth and Caribbean shot put record holder, equaled his own national record on his third attempt, with a throw of 21.69m to take the bronze.
The MVP athlete lived up to his third place world ranking heading into the championships, as he was beaten by the two top athletes, Joe Kovacs of the USA,who secured Gold with 21.93mk, from Germany’s David Storl with 21.74m , securing silver.
His World Championship debut at a senior global championships – the 2013 Moscow World Championships – saw him managing 20th place in his qualification pool with a modest best of 19.08m. Richards since then has grown leaps and bounds, producing consistently 20 plus meter throws this year.
His career boosting performance means Richards will now stands as a top contender when he steps in the circle to compete anywhere in the track and field sphere. Beijing has now opened the door to other future success, and there is no stopping the son of the tropical soil.
A believer in hard work and full of determination, Richards now turn his sights to the Rio 2016 Olympics as he seeks to overhaul the historic 10th-place finish by former shot putter and National record holder Dorian Scott done at the 27th Olympic Games in 2012.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login