Fort Collins Long Jumper Janay DeLoach Wins Olympic Bronze

In most sports second and third place are just the first losers, but at Olympic events, you are still a winner when you get second and third place. That means former Colorado State star and Fort Collins resident Janay DeLoach was a winner, a winner of a bronze medal in the women’s long jump yesterday at the Olympics in London.

It came down to one centimeter, by that margin, first-time Olympian Janay DeLoach of Fort Collins became an Olympic medalist. DeLoach’s U.S. teammate Brittney Reese won with a leap of 23 feet, 4 ⅓ inches. Elena Sokolova of Russia took silver with a jump of 23-2 ⅓ . DeLoach went 22-7¼ a fingernail ahead of fourth-place finisher Ineta Radevica of Latvia.

“Words cannot describe how I feel right now,” the former CSU athlete said after claiming bronze in an event won by teammate Brittney Reese. “I am on Cloud 9. I feel so good that I was able to barely get that bronze medal. But barely is a bronze medal.”

Congrats Janay!