Maryland Athletics Hall Of Fame Spotlight: Thea LaFond
The first Olympic medalist in Maryland track & field history reflects on her legacy ahead of her induction on Oct. 16.
Brady Ruth, Staff Writer
9/16/2026
“Who would have thought that falling in love with jumping into sand would lead to something so amazing?” Thea LaFond said.
Maryland’s first Olympic medalist has nothing but gratitude and bewilderment for the legacy she has already built and continues to build upon. What she calls a “full-circle” story will unveil its latest chapter as she joins the Maryland Athletics Hall of Fame on Oct. 16.
“I don’t think it’s really truly set in yet,” LaFond said. “It feels really amazing. At the end of the day, I really just see myself as a kid from the Caribbean. It’s incredibly humbling, and I do not take it lightly, sitting among the greats. I think about all the Hall of Famers that I know and respect and have read about in previous years. I’ve always thought of them as inspiring, and so many of them have supported me. It’s still surreal.”
The support she felt at Maryland carried into her professional career — one that earned her a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. A world-class triple-jump talent from Dominica became the first medalist for not only her alma mater, but her country as well.
“It felt so special to be the first Terp and the first Terp woman to medal at the Olympics,” LaFond said. “I think what was really special to me was not only being the first person, being the first woman to do so.”
She grew up in Silver Spring, but didn’t expect to be competing for UMD. She planned on attending a different Big Ten University, but a snap decision to tour College Park instantly changed the trajectory of her entire life.
She instantly fell in love with College Park, as so many do, and realized she needed to be a Terp. Coaches and administrators helped fast-track her admission — her top-tier GPA paying dividends — and her story at Maryland began.
“It all lined up,” LaFond said. “It was just a decision to go for a day. I didn’t think at all that it was going to become a four-year commitment and a life-changing stepping stone.”
Her 13.48m triple jump in the 2015 Big Ten Championships still stands atop the Maryland record book. In the same year, she was a part of the Terps’ best all-time shuttle hurdle relay, cementing her name as one of the all-time greats in the storied history of Maryland track & field.
My mentality has always been about going after things fearlessly. The more I travel, the more the word ‘fearless’ has been engraved into my mind. It’s that fearlessness of not being scared to fail and look silly sometimes. Most importantly, it’s the fearlessness of getting out and trying again and again.Thea LaFond
“Thea was a generational talent that brought our field to another level,” Maryland track and field head coach Andrew Valmon said. “I go back to remembering sitting in her living room with her mom and dad and talking about what the goals could be and her dreams and capping it off at the Olympics and seeing them come true. She was a fierce competitor and we’re constantly reminded of everything she contributed to Maryland.”
Valmon and Renaldo Nehemiah — two athletes LaFond admired long before her time as a Terp began — played a key role in informing her about her induction into the Maryland Athletics Hall of Fame.
They invited her to come speak for the current team and pass her wisdom down into the next generation of Terps, but took her completely by surprise with a life-changing announcement.
“They tricked me,” LaFond said. “I was truly shocked. I didn’t see it coming, but it felt kind of full-circle to be back on that track where it all started when they told me. And then to be told by literal American heroes, that was really special. It made me pretty emotional.”
For LaFond, though, the honor means far more than adding another accolade to an already decorated career. It serves as a reminder of the people and place that helped shape her long before she stood atop an Olympic podium — a community that saw her for who she was, not simply for what she could accomplish on the track.
“The most amazing thing Maryland gave me was a support system that I consider to be family to this day,” LaFond said. “They were there in the days when I was the most vulnerable and not feeling the best about myself, because it’s easy to get lost in the success or downfall of the sport and attribute your self-worth to that sometimes. The people that I met, both in athletics and academics at Maryland, namely the people that loved me before the medals, they gave me a chance to be Thea outside of athletics. That means the world to me.”
