Track Changes

Former Terp triple jumper Thea LaFond ’15 made it all the way to the Summer Olympics last year, only to finish dead last at the Rio de Janeiro Games. It could have been a career killer.

But her disappointing performance, caused by a hamstring injury she suffered while practicing in Brazil, prompted an overhaul in her attitude, coaching and technique, propelling her right back onto the world stage, including competing in next month’s world championships in London.

“It’s kind of nerve-wracking,” LaFond says. “Sometimes it’s easier when eyes aren’t on you. But I do think there’s a level of confidence that was not there last year for Rio.”

That athletic confidence has been building for years, ever since LaFond and her parents came to the United States from Dominica—the country for which she competed in the Olympics—at age 5. LaFond initially took up ballet, jazz and tap dance, but in eighth grade, her mother suggested she find a recreational activity that was less expensive (“a.k.a. free,” says LaFond). Many of her friends at John F. Kennedy High School in Silver Spring, Md., were on the track team and encouraged her to join. “I’m the result of very good peer pressuring,” she says.

After first trying distance running, LaFond switched to jumping events when her coach noted the similarities with ballet’s leaps. At Maryland, LaFond, an American studies major, “found a team that became like a second family to me” while earning multiple All-America honors and breaking a school record for the triple jump. She also continued her academic growth—something especially important to her parents, both of whom have doctorates.

Education continues to be a major theme in LaFond’s life—she works as a P.E. teacher at John F. Kennedy High. “It’s nice giving back to the community that gave so much to me,” she says.

While teaching, LaFond continued to train, her sights set on the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro—a goal she’d been working toward since college.

“Rio was really a privilege,” she says. “When you have Simone Biles bumping into you and you’re living in the same building as Usain Bolt—they’re just moments that most people will never experience.”

After returning from Rio, LaFond began to rethink her coaching and practice regimen. She connected with Aaron Gadson, a track coach at Winston Churchill High School in Potomac, Md., who became her new coach. “She talked me through what she did last year and showed me some of her training—her running, jumping and lifting,” he says. “I didn’t think it was particularly useful for her.”

So Gadson created an entirely new regimen—intensifying her weightlifting, adding more running and altering her jumping technique. LaFond had always jumped off her right leg—but Gadson thought the left was stronger, so she switched. “Changing legs is really difficult,” he says. “I changed legs between high school and college, so I know it can be really hard to do, but she picked up on it pretty quickly.”

LaFond also began swinging both of her arms while jumping—a technique used primarily by male jumpers, while most women swing just one.

“I was like, ‘I see all these men double-arm in triple jump and they’re going farther, their transitions look smoother,’” she says. “I asked my coach, ‘Can we try that?’”

The changes to LaFond’s routine—along with the addition of a massage and stretch therapist named Raju Mantina—have bolstered her performance and “changed the way my body recovers and the way my body can handle heavy impacts,” she says.

After nearly a year of competing in national and international meets, the changes seem to have paid off. “She jumped a couple feet farther this year, so I think in the short term, at least, they were good choices,” says Gadson.

The results of those choices will be on display at next month’s world championships. “It’s a feeling of pride,” she says. “I feel like I truly earned my spot to be there. I definitely feel a lot happier with myself and with the possible outcomes than I did in Rio.”

But she’s not done with the Olympic dream yet. “I definitely have the 2020 Games in Tokyo as the next major goal,” she says.