“Kwéyòl Cousins” St. Lucia and Dominica Win Gold at Paris Olympics

Historic day for Eastern Caribbean as St. Lucia and Dominica celebrate first Olympic gold medals and Grenada adds to medal tally with bronze

Joy and jubilation reverberated across the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States on Saturday, as three nations in the sub-regional grouping enjoyed podium-place finishes in the day’s Olympic events. Kweyol cousins St. Lucia and Dominica, bonded by a shared Creole culture and bilingual heritage, welcomed their first-ever Olympic medals - gold ones at that.‌

Thea LaFond-Gadson, who in 2018 became the first Dominican athlete to bring home a Commonwealth Games medal with a bronze in the triple jump, is now the first Dominican with an Olympic medal. This year, at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, her distance of 15.02 in the triple jump finals landed her in first place, and also set a new national record.