The athlete from Leiria, Irina Rodrigues, said today that she has fulfilled a dream by qualifying for the final of the discus throw at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, having achieved the 10th qualification mark.
“It’s a dream come true, I am very happy, very emotional; I prayed a lot to God for this day to come. After a difficult year, it tastes even better. Working and training isn’t easy, but this move to Terceira Island and starting my job as a doctor has brought me a lot of resilience, a lot of faith that things could go well, and they did,” said the 33-year-old doctor at the end of her statement.
In addition to Irina Rodrigues’ qualification, who finished 10th with a throw of 62.90 meters, Liliana Cá also competed but was eliminated, finishing 14th with a throw of 62.43 meters.
In a year that has been going well for Irina Rodrigues in terms of competition, the athlete highlighted the fact that she has been a European finalist and has now reached the Olympic final.
“I managed to be a European finalist and now I’ve reached the Olympic final, which was one of my big dreams. I think the atmosphere in Terceira, having my coach close to me, fantastic colleagues, and receiving so much love and care, both from the Azores and from Leiria, made everything work out,” said the visibly emotional Portuguese athlete.
Regarding the final, she was clear: “Anything can happen. I have a lot of faith in God and I know what I worked for. I think this has been a very good year; from now on, my season is already won, I achieved a great feat, for me and for my coach,” said the athlete from Leiria, who is making her fourth Olympic appearance and secured her place in the final thanks to her first throw of 62.90 meters.
Less happy was Liliana Cá, who achieved the sixth-best mark in her qualification group and ended up being surpassed by eight athletes in the second group, finishing in 14th place overall, with a throw of 62.43 meters, just 20 centimeters away from the German Marike Steinacker, who completed the list of 12 finalists.
In groups contested at different times, Liliana Cá had expressed hope that her mark would qualify for the final but had always mentioned that physically it was the best throw she could perform today.
“I knew reaching 60 meters would be a struggle, and in the meantime, I realized that I had to manage my body and emotions to fit in at least one good throw, and that’s what I did,” she said at the time, adding that if she qualified, she would give everything in the final.
Liliana Cá, 37 years old, who also complained of some physical discomfort but did not want to attribute it to a lesser performance, stated that the approach was to compete in a controlled manner.
“I decided to do a controlled test, without taking risks, because I knew that if I started faster, I might not keep up the pace. I made controlled throws so I could be sure they would be above 60 meters, which I achieved; I hope they were sufficient to get to the final,” said the athlete, who still holds the best Portuguese result in the discipline, with a fifth place in Tokyo 2020, still unaware that she had been eliminated from the decisive event.