Winning your country’s first Olympic or Paralympic medal

Earlier this year, five countries won Olympics medals for the first time in history.

To end our conversations for 2024, we celebrate three of those athletes from Nepal, Cape Verde and Dominica. We hear about some of the challenges on their journey to sporting greatness.

“I was teaching while I was training for quite a bit,” said Thea LaFond, who won gold in the triple jump for Dominica and had little financial support early on in her athletics career and was often the only person in her event who also had a full-time job.

“I remember one weekend when I was working,” she said. “I took Friday off, left Thursday night from my classroom, and then flew to Finland to compete and was back in classroom on Monday morning.”

We also hear how the athletes’ experiences not only affected their country, but also inspired others.

“Most importantly I believe my success has done more than just put me in the spotlight,” says Nepalese Paralympian Palesha Goverdhan, who was born without a palm on her left hand and won a bronze medal in Taekwondo.

“It has shifted people’s mindsets. It has shown people, especially athletes and persons with disabilities, that anything is possible.”

They are joined by Cape Verde boxer David de Pina, who had to leave his country and family in order to get the right training.

Hosted by Luke Jones.

A Boffin Media production with producer Sue Nelson in partnership with the BBC OS team, including producer Iqra Farooq.

(Photo: David De Pina after winning bronze in Paris. Credit: Cristiano Barbosa)