Cameroon's Francoise Mbango Etone leapt to Olympic gold in the women's triple jump on Monday, beating hot favourite Tatyana Lebedeva into third place. Mbango Etone, the 2001 and 2003 world championships silver medallist, jumped 15.30 metres, an African record, with her second and sixth jumps to become the first Cameroon woman in history to win an Olympic medal.
"This is something I have been dreaming of," Mbango Etone said. "It's been the most important thing this year for me, I have only been focusing on getting a medal here."
Hrysopiyi Devetzi of Greece took silver with a leap of 15.25 on her fourth attempt. Russian Lebedeva, the 2000 silver medallist who had not lost a triple jump competition this season, struggled in the early rounds. Her best effort of 15.14, well short of her season's best of 15.34 outdoors, in the final round was only enough for third place.
