Saint Lucia’s final hope for a medal of any sort at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games came to an end Thursday evening when four times Olympian and Multiple Sportswoman for the Year, Levern Spencer failed in her bid to qualify for the finals of the women’s high jump when she sustained a hamstring injury.
The 37-year-old Spencer competing in Group B finished 11th after clearing 1.82 and 1.86 metres respectively but failing at 1.90 metres, falling short of the 1.95 mark to qualify for the finals.
The top seven to qualify from Group B are Marija Vukovic (Montenegro/ Q 1.95 metres), Yarsolava Mahuchika (Ukraine/ Q 1.95 metres), Marie Laurence Jungfleisch (Germany/Q 1.95 metres), Elenor Patterson (Australia/ Q 1.95 metres), Morgan Lake (Great Britain /Q 1.95 metres), Kamila Licwinko (Poland/ Q 1.95 metres), Mariya Lasitskene (ROC/ Q1.95 metres).
Speaking to the media following the event, Spencer said, “First of all I am thankful for being here in Tokyo, I was in good shape for the competition, (but) unfortunately in the middle of the competition my hamstring just started cramping really bad.”
In terms of the heat at the Olympic stadium, she said, “(During) my warm up I did not feel anything, I was fine, I started the competition I took one jump to get off the mark then my hamstring started hurting me. I am thankful I was still able to walk off the track and not in a wheelchair, in everything I give thanks, it just wasn’t my day, it wasn’t meant to be.”
For support: “I want to thank all those who supported me. I went out there and gave my best; unfortunately my best wasn’t good enough for making it to the next round of competition. I hope you guys enjoyed watching me at the Olympic Games.”
What next for Levern Spencer: “I am really not sure what’s going to happen after that, I just want to see what’s happening with my hamstring and we move on from there” she said.
Saint Lucia sports enthusiasts still had something to be happy about, debutant at the games Mikaili Charlemagne finished second in her heat as she went on to set a new national record in the 50-metre freestyle, in a time of 26.99 seconds, swimming in Lane 5, eclipsing her own record of 27.27 seconds set at the FINA World Juniors in Budapest, Hungary in 2019.
Jean Luc Zephir who competed in the men’s 100 metres freestyle finished 7th in heat 3 in a time of 51.94 seconds, landing him 54th overall out of 71 competitors.
Saint Lucia’s two other competitors, sailors, Stephanie Devaux – Lovell and Luc Chevrier finished 28th and 31st in the women’s and men’s Laser Radial competition respectively.
