FOCUS: Lowcountry track and field athletes medal in Olympics

Charleston residents watch Saunders compete during a Saturday party. Photos provided.

Staff reports  |  North Charleston native Jasmine Camacho-Quinn took gold for Puerto Rico in the women’s 100 meter hurdles early Monday in the Tokyo Olympics while Charleston’s Raven Saunders on Saturday nabbed the silver medal in the shot put.

Camacho-Quinn, a 24-year-old graduate of Fort Dorchester High School who went on to be a college track star at the University of Kentucky, on Monday ran the event in 12.37 seconds, according to NBC. Coming in second for silver was ex-Kentucky Wildcat Keni Harrison of the United States, 0.15 seconds later.  Camacho-Quinn competed for Puerto Rico because her mother is from there.

Thank you so much 🥺🙏🏽❤️ https://t.co/nbK2bRyQMP

— Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (@JCamachoQuinn) August 2, 2021

Saunders expected to return home this week

On Saturday in the shot put  final field of 12, 25-year-old Saunders was edged out by Chinese competitor Lijao Gong, whose final two throws of more than 20 meters bested Saunders’ longest throw of 19.79 meters. New Zealand thrower Valerie Adams took the bronze.  The Tokyo games are Saunders’ second Olympics, but after finishing fifth in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, Saturday’s medal is her first.

On Twitter, Saunders said she would be home in Charleston on Aug. 5.  Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg, who attended a “watch party” late Saturday at the Arthur W. Christopher Community Center on Fishburne Street, is expected to have another community parade to honor Saunders, a city spokesman said.  Last month, City Council voted to name the track at Stoney Field in her honor.

On the medal stand Saturday, Saunders raised her hands over her head in a defiant X, a protest Yahoo Sports called the “most high-profile protest yet” in Tokyo.

“It’s the intersection of where all people who are oppressed meet,” she told the Associated Press.  Later on Twitter, she said, “Let them try and take this medal. I’m running across the border even though I can’t swim.”

Let them try and take this medal. I’m running across the border even though I can’t swim 😂 https://t.co/B59N2v9KAk

— Raven HULK Saunders (@GiveMe1Shot) August 1, 2021

Saunders also has made her mark on this year’s games by making herself known with brightly colored hair, outlandish face masks, metallic grills in her teeth and more.

Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg watches Saunders on a big screen at a watch party.

“People told me not to do tattoos and piercings, but now look at me — I’m popular,” she said in a story by Team USA.

More deeply as an openly gay athlete who has felt the impact of mental health struggles and poverty, she’s also been outspoken about issues important to her.  She told reporters in Japan that it was important to “be able to go out here and really inspire so many people of the LGBTQ community, so many people who have been dealing with mental health issues, so many people of the African American community, so many people who are black all around the world. I really just hope that I can continue to inspire and motivate.”

Charleston City Paper Editor Sam Spence contributed to this report.  Have a comment? Send to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com.