Olympic gold in shot put
“God, this is a moment you promised me,” says Ogunleye before her victory
As of: August 9, 2024 | Reading time: 3 minutes
Shot putter Ogunleye sensationally wins gold
Yemisi Ogunleye sensationally won gold in the shot put at the Olympic Games. The 25-year-old secured the first German shot put gold since 1996 and celebrated the greatest success of her career on her Olympic debut.
Shot putter Yemisi Ogunleye surprisingly wins gold in Paris. The 25-year-old from Mannheim wins the first German gold in this athletics discipline since 1996 with a throw of 20.00 metres. The very religious Ogunleye came to shot put via a roundabout route.
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Surprise Olympic champion Yemisi Ogunleye ran into the curve with the German flag and cried in front of her loved ones. After winning bronze in the sprint relay, the shot putter went one better. Gold for Germany in the shot put – something that hadn’t happened since Astrid Kumbernuss in 1996.
In the final round, the 25-year-old Ogunleye’s ball landed at 20.00 meters. The Mannheim native held her hands in front of her face and knew shortly afterwards that she was an Olympic champion. In the Stade de France, the winner was briefly greeted with “Totally detached” after she had to worry about qualifying. It was only with the third and last throw that she made it into the final.
“I just felt such an incredible calm in that moment, something that is not of this earth,” said the very religious Ogunleye in an interview with ZDF after her victory. “My trainer Iris Manke-Reimers said to me: the path is not over yet, you can still strike gold, you can move mountains.” In the ring she then raised her hands and said: “God, this is a moment that you promised me.”
Previously, the quartet of European champions from Munich 2022 had just finished their lap of honour after winning the medal in the 4×100 metres. The German Athletics Association celebrated a surprisingly big evening at the Stade de France.
Ogunleye plagued by knee injuries
After second place at the World Indoor Championships and third place at the European Championships, Ogunleye achieved by far her greatest international success. Silver went to New Zealander Maddison-Lee Wesche with 19.86 meters, while Song Jiayun from China took bronze with 19.32 meters.
Yemisi Ogunleye
Quelle: AFP/ANDREJ ISAKOVIC
Ogunleye, the daughter of a Nigerian father and a German mother, is only a shot putter because she was injured too often in her youth. At the age of 13, she switched from gymnastics to athletics. She then tried her hand at heptathlon. There she repeatedly suffered from serious knee injuries and tore her cruciate ligament for the second time at the age of 16.
“I got into shot put because of my knee injury. During this challenging phase of my life, I noticed that I not only had a certain talent for shot put, but also enjoyed it. I wanted to develop that,” she says.
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Her deep faith also helped Ogunleye through the difficult times. “God’s love has changed me,” she once told SWR: “He is an important pillar in my life. No matter what happens, God has my life in his hands. That takes all the pressure off me. I feel an unbridled joy at being able to do my sport.”
Medal goal exceeded
For the German athletics team, it is the fourth medal at the Paris Games. This means that the association’s target has even been exceeded. Decathlete Leo Neugebauer and long jumper Malaika Mihambo each won silver, and the women’s sprint relay team took bronze shortly before Ogunleye’s gold coup in the 4×100 meters.
The shower that fell during the relay race had made the shot put ring slippery. Ogunleye, who was doing the spin put, slipped on her first attempt and hit her knee, but had then adjusted to the conditions in the evening sun.
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With her second attempt at 19.55 meters, she catapulted herself into second place. With her fifth attempt, Ogunleye briefly took the lead, but Wesche immediately countered. But with her last attempt, Ogunleye managed to create a sensation.
