Guyana’s Troy Doris, hopped, skipped and jumped to 16.81 metres and into the finals of the Men’s Triple Jump at the Olympics in Rio, the first representative from this country to make the finals of an Olympic event in years.
The US-based Doris is currently seeded sixth of 12 finalists and will be taking on former University of Florida stars Christian Taylor and Will Claye, the defending gold and silver medalists in the Olympic triple jump, today.
Doris, who was the world number three ranked triple jumper earlier this season, will be gunning for a podium spot after qualifying with a leap of 16.81m. The 27-year old who rose to prominence after leaping 17.18m – a national record – on May 14 in Florida, trails Taylor (17.24m), China’s Bin Dong (17.10m), Claye (17.05m), Portugal’s Nelson Evora (16.99m) and China’s Shuo Cao (16.97m).
An NBC report has billed the triple-jump final as Doris vs. the Goliaths with the University of Iowa’s Doris trying to taken down the two American favorites, the Goliaths, Taylor and Claye.
In 2012 in London, Taylor took home the gold with a jump of 17.81 meters (58.43 feet), while Claye’s jump of 17.62 meters (57.81 feet) earned him the silver. Claye also won a bronze medal in London with a long jump of 8.12 meters (26.64 feet), making him the first man since 1936 to medal in those two events in the same Olympics. The report noted that Doris edged Claye by half an inch, 54 feet 10 inches to 54 feet 9 and a half inches to take third at the Drake Relays in April.
Doris, who at 27 is older than both Taylor and Claye, owes his first Olympic berth to a change in nationality. The report pointed out that in 2015, Doris became a Guyanese citizen despite never having stepped foot in the South American nation that was the birthplace of his parents. He grew up in the suburbs of Chicago.
“Gaining citizenship in Guyana provided a better opportunity for me as a track athlete,” Doris told hawkeyesports.com. “With the potential I have, it gives me a chance to compete in the Olympics while representing the country my parents are from. It’s a better overall situation.”
After spending two years in junior college, Doris won Big Ten championships and earned All-American honors during both the Indoor and Outdoor triple jump seasons in 2011 and again in 2012, the report said. Doris, who was in Guyana enjoying the Golden Jubilee Independence celebrations in May, is the only Guyanese Olympian to make it past the first round. Swimmers Hannibal Gaskin and Jamila Sanmoogan along with sprinters Winston George (400m), Aliyah Abrams (400m) and Brenessa Thompson (100 and 200m) were all eliminated in their heats.
Guyanese at home and abroad will be hoping Doris can win the nation’s second medal in the history of the Games when the final starts at 8:50 am today.
