Pedro Pichardo's gold and a silver to Patrícia Mamona, both in triple jump, and the bronzes of Jorge Fonseca in judo and canoeist Fernando Pimenta give Portugal the best result ever in the Olympic Games, this year at Tokyo 2020.
The record beats Los Angeles 1984, which crowned Carlos Lopes and earned bronzes for Rosa Mota and António Leitão, and Atenas 2004, with two silvers (Sérgio Paulinho and Francis Obikwelu) and one bronze (Rui Silva), and is the first time Portugal reached the four podiums in one year.
In the Japanese capital, the first to reach the podium was Jorge Fonseca, getting the third medal for judo, followed by Patrícia Mamona, with silver in a 15.01 metre triple jump, making a new national record, followed by canoeist Fernando Pimenta, at K1 1,000 meters, with a bronze that placed him among the group of Portuguese 'multi-medalists'.
It was the triple jump athlete Pedro Pichardo, who broke the national record with the third jump, of 17.98 metres, a result more than enough to dominate the rest of the finalists, who didn't really come close to a fight for the gold.
Before this year, Athens 2004 was the best year for Portugal, yielding three medals, the second and last 'hat-trick' of the Portuguese delegation to date.
Los Angeles 1984 brought Portugal their first Olympic gold medal in national history, in the victorious marathon of Carlos Lopes, with António Leitão in the 5,000 metres and Rosa Mota in the marathon achieving bronze, the only time that three metals were achieved.
Original article available in Portuguese at http://postal.pt/
