Women's hammer throw gold medalist Camryn Rogers of Canada has put her big win at the Paris Olympics down to the hard work done in training and the trust between herself and her coach, while also hailing her fellow competitors as an inspiration to young women round the world.
Rogers' success on Tuesday marked Canada's second gold medal win in the hammer throw competitions in Paris, with her compatriot Ethan Katzberg earlier claiming gold in the men's event.
The 25-year-old clinched the title with a best throw of 76.97 meters, to finish ahead of American Annette Echikunwoke, who took silver with 75.48. China's Zhao Jie took bronze with 74.27 while defending champion Anita Wlodarczyk finished fourth.
Rogers' victory ended Wlodarczyk's dominance in this event that had dated back to London 2012. She described the competition itself was "very stressful" but said she was well prepared to handle the pressure on the big stage thanks to the work done alongside her coach Mohamad Saatara.
"But I think being able to pull that throw out and dig deep and go back to all the training that my coach and I have done, these are the kind of the moments that we trained for [knowing] what do you do if you're in the last round and then your next throw can be the difference between silver and gold, and being able to simulate those kinds of experiences in training helped with moments like this, when it's real life, when you have to do it, it's a do or die moment. And I think it's a testament to how strong the relationship my coach and I have are and how much we trust each other," she said in an interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN) on Wednesday.
Rogers hailed the high standard of competition in the hammer throw event and praised her rivals who finished second and third on the podium, while also paying tribute to all her fellow athletes, saying that these "incredible women" are changing the way that people view powerful women in sport.
"I feel like I'm such a fangirl for all of my fellow hammer throwers. That's because they're such amazing, beautiful, wonderful, lovely women. And I think we're in a pretty cool place in women's hammer throw where not only are all the women who are currently competing like, not just some of the best in the world, but some of the best in history. But they are also, like some of the nicest people you'll ever meet. And they have these crazy incredible careers that they're having too also -- very smart, very accomplished -- but doing these amazing careers to support their throwing careers as well," she said.
"I think you couldn't have a better group of women, especially to represent a sport that is changing the way that people, especially young women and girls, view what it means to be a strong woman in sport. So I think we have a pretty world-class group of lovely ladies out here representing the hammer throw pretty well," said Rogers.
Olympic champion hails hammer throw competitors for changing way people view women in sport
