Samoan Laulauga Tausaga makes history for the USA & wins GOLD at the World Athletics Championships
"I don't know if I have a fairy godmother or my ancestors had some say in it, but I was able to do something tonight that I didn't think was possible," Tausaga said after smashing her personal best and snatching Gold at the World Athletics Championships.
The 25 year old made history when she stunned the crowd in Budapest with her personal best throw of 69.49 to win the first ever Gold medal in women’s Discus throw for an American at the World Athletic Championships.
She follows in the footsteps of fellow Samoan Beatrice Faumuina ONZM, who won Gold for New Zealand at the 1997 World Athletic Championships.
Prior to this meet Tausaga had finished last twice in the finals at the World Athletic Championships and she went into this years final with a personal best of 65.46 metres. She obliterated her personal best by 4 metres.
Before Tausaga's history making moment, her US team mate Valarie Allman had been favoured to take the win seemingly cruising to a World title until Tausaga stepped up with her epic 5th throw, literally snatching Gold.
She talks about shocking the world in Women's discus here -
Fun facts: Laulauga was born in Hawai'i and then moved to California with her mother when she was 7 or 8 years old. They had planned to go for a holiday but ended up staying when her grandparents became ill.
Her mother, Aveaomalo, wanted her daughter to be active and told her she 'was getting too tall to not be doing anything.'
'I thought that was rude,' Laulauga said. Her mother took her to play volleyball.
She also played basketball until her coach suggested she try track.
Tausaga, however, didn't want anything to do with running events. She shared with the Iowa Gazette how she came to take up Discus:
'I asked (the track coach) 'am I running?' and he said 'no.' I said 'OK, sign me up,'' she said.
He had her try the shot put and immediately put her on the varsity team.
'It just kind of stuck,' she said.
The shot put actually was her first love. It's what she excelled at in high school and what grabbed the attention of college recruiters. But when she got to Iowa, she tweaked her technique and struggled her freshman year.
'The discus — something I swore I would hate forever — completely took off,' she said.
She found a new love. 'I was like 'I have to break up with the shot,'' she said.
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The 'saying my name right' has been a battle most of her life. She said 'people would call me all kinds of names' — from Lora to Lana to Liliga — all through high school, even when she was winning shot put and discus competitions and college programs started to pay attention.
She finished second in the state shot put as a senior, third as a junior.
'Most of the time it was spelled right (in the paper),' she said, 'but it was butchered when I was on TV.'
She tells people they can call her Laugi (her nickname)
Remember the name! We're sure we'll be seeing more of her at the Olympics next year.
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