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Allman's Joy: Discus thrower from Longmont waits out rain for gold medal

Valarie Allman
Posted at 10:33 AM, Aug 02, 2021
and last updated 2021-08-02 12:35:49-04

TOKYO (AP) — Discus thrower Valarie Allman won the first track and field gold medal at the Tokyo Games for the United States.

Hardly anyone figured the country’s first medal at Olympic Stadium would come from women’s discus.

READ MORE: Meet the Colorado athletes at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Paralympics

Not because of the event — American Stephanie Brown Trafton won it at the 2008 Beijing Games — but because of where it fell on the schedule: Day 4.

Allman, 26, was a favorite for the gold medal. Only two American women have won a title in this event in the past.

Sh won the women's discus by 7.38 meters (24 feet, 3 inches) at the U.S. Olympic Trials for track and field in June with a throw of 69.92 meters (229 feet and 4.76 inches). All five of her allotted throws would have won the event.

In 2020, she set a U.S. record of 70.15 meters (230 feet and 1.81 inches).

She attended Stanford University and now lives in Longmont, Colorado.