At the moment of her sporting moment of glory, the new discus world champion Lalauuga Tausaga commemorated the victims of the devastating fire in Hawaii. After her sensational victory at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Tausaga, who was born on the island of Oahu, reported that she constantly prays for those affected.
“People from the Pacific Islands stick together,” said the 25-year-old, who moved to San Diego, California from Hawaii at the age of seven and also has Samoan roots.
With a throw of 69.49 meters, Tausaga increased her previous best by more than four meters in the fifth attempt and passed the favored Olympic champion Valarie Allman. The US teammate had just thrown 69.23 meters and looked like the winner. twice 69 meters ahead, I can’t remember that there was ever such a level,” said Kristin Pudenz from Potsdam, with 65.96 meters, the best Germans were sixth, followed by Shanice Craft in seventh and Claudine Vita in tenth place.
Late starter at the discus
Winner Tausaga had two invalids in her first four attempts and one at 52.28 meters, then the winning throw slipped out. Overall, she is more of a late starter when it comes to discus. “I just wanted to stay home and be a bookworm,” she said.
She dedicated the gold medal to her mother, who encouraged her to do sports. She disliked volleyball and basketball, then Tausaga tried shot put. That got her a place in college. She went to the Midwest in the US state of Iowa. “It was time to get stuck in a blizzard,” Tausaga explained her choice. In Iowa she switched to the discus throw, now she is the first world champion from the USA in this discipline in her third participation in the World Championships.
