PARIS: Roje Stona upset his more fancied rivals to claim Jamaica's first-ever Olympic men's discus gold medal at the Paris Games on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported.
Stona won the final with an Olympic record throw of 70.00 metres, eclipsing the previous mark of 69.89 set by Lithuania's Virgilijus Alekna at the Athens 2004 Games.
He finished just three centimetres ahead of Lithuanian world record holder Mykolas Alekna, who took silver. Australian Matthew Denny clinched bronze with a best effort of 69.31.
"I was very hyped," Stona said, admitting he was trying to keep his emotions in check after taking the lead. "I was up there. I wanted to bring it down, calm myself, regroup and go again.
"My first three throws weren't that good, I didn't get a good release. When I whipped it on the side, it touched the 70m land, it was a great throw. I'm just glad I was able to create history."
The result represented a remarkable coming of age for Stona, who finished 19th at last year's world championships with a best effort of 62.67.
The 25-year-old said he hoped the exciting nature of field events at the Paris Games would help to lift their profile.
"I feel like everyone loves it. Field events should get more attention. It's not easy what we do. It's repetitive, we've got to do a lot of maintenance. We've got to level the playing field," he said. --BERNAMA