How far will Teuraiterai Tupaia go? Difficult to say, but one thing is certain: its trajectory will pass at least through the Paris Olympic Games. Friday May 17, at the Fontainebleau meeting (Seine-et-Marne), the 24-year-old javelin thrower validated his ticket for the five-ring competition by achieving the Olympic minimums (85.50 meters) thanks to a throw of 86 .11 meters. The athlete from Tahiti took the opportunity to slap his personal best (80.86 meters) and especially the oldest French record in athletics, men and women combined. Since 1989 it has been the property of Pascal Lefèvre (82.56 meters).
“The Olympic minimums were the objective, so we can say that the work pays off, we are going to experience the Olympics at home,” declared Teuraiterai Tupaia on Athlé TV, after his throw. I don’t yet know what my program will be for the next meetings, we will talk about it quietly with my coach. »
If it will take more to make the Polynesian a favorite for the podium in Paris, here he is in any case with a new status. Tupaia actually achieved the fifth best performance of the year, making him a serious outsider this summer. All this despite having experienced great difficulties at the start of the season. “It didn’t start well, there were adjustment issues, we had to fight, even on a technical level. We worked a lot on posture. We know his talent, but that’s not enough, so we had to put in the work,” explained his trainer Jacques Danail to L’Equipe. At the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, his French record would have allowed Teuraiterai Tupaia to win the silver medal, less than two meters from the title won by Indian Neeraj Chopra (87.03 meters)
