00:00As they launched off the starting line and she fought against the US runner for first place
00:04she clipped a hurdle and then she slammed into a second and by that point there was no redeeming
00:09herself. Jasmine Camacho Quinn had lost any hope of bringing Olympic glory to Puerto Rico. People
00:15had told her that she wasn't good enough to beat the US runners and maybe that was true but people
00:21only said that because she kind of was a US runner. After all, Jasmine was born in South Carolina.
00:28She grew up outside of Puerto Rico and she didn't even speak Spanish. So in the lead up to the
00:332016
00:34Rio Olympics Jasmine shocked a lot of people when she decided to honor her mother's family heritage
00:40and compete for Puerto Rico instead of the US. People said that Jasmine wasn't Puerto Rican enough
00:46but it wasn't just Puerto Ricans who were upset with Jasmine. Some Americans felt like she had
00:51betrayed the US claiming that she was only competing for Puerto Rico because she wasn't competitive
00:56enough to qualify for the US team. After all at the 2016 games the US had the fastest women
01:02hurdlers in the world with Brianna Rollins, Nia Ali and Christy Castlin dominating the podium taking
01:08home the gold, silver and bronze respectively. The world record in women's hurdles was also held by
01:14US hurdler Kendra Harrison at the time. So it is true that Jasmine might not have even made it that
01:19far
01:19in 2016 if she hadn't been competing for Puerto Rico. As her nationality was being questioned, Jasmine
01:25started to feel like she wasn't accepted anywhere. And that was when Jasmine started receiving messages
01:31from the Puerto Ricans. She started anxiously opening each message, preparing herself to justify her
01:37decision to strangers online. But as she opened each message, she realized she hadn't let down Puerto
01:43Rico at all. The messages were overflowing with support, love and pride. They were thanking her
01:48for representing their flag on the world stage, regardless of her failure in the semifinals.
01:53Jasmine couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of hope and optimism. And she certainly didn't
01:59want to let that trust in her go to waste. Over the next few years, Jasmine continued improving on her
02:04personal best. And five years later, as she ran in the semifinals once again at the Tokyo Olympics,
02:10her hard work was clearly paying off. She destroyed the entire field and bolted to the finish line in
02:16a time of 12.26. Her fight wasn't over just yet. She still had to run in the finals, but
02:22she had
02:22smashed through the Olympic record and set one of the fastest times in the history of women's hurdles.
02:28Her time was only six hundredths of a second slower than the world record, held by US runner Kendra
02:33Harrison. So as Jasmine lined up at the starting line in the finals and she looked at the runner to
02:38her
02:38left, she couldn't help but feel a little nervous. And there's the world record holder. Jasmine tried
02:44to stay focused and then... Camacho, Quinn and Harrison are going at it. Now the Puerto Rican is pulling away.
02:51It's goal for Puerto Rico for the very first time.
Comments