Sam Kendricks came to Tokyo 2021 in medal condition, but was quarantined after the corona test. He doesn’t mince words in his treatment.
Paris Olympics on channels 26.7.–11.8. Go to the competition website here. You can find the entire program of the games here.
PARIS. US Army Lieutenant Sam Kendricks is a patriotic man and a former pole vaulter who has been able to win in a global competition situation by Armand Duplantis.
Kendricks, who won gold at the 2017 World Championships in London, successfully defended his title in Doha in the fall of 2019, with the then only 19-year-old Swede as his main challenger.
Kendricks, who already won Olympic bronze in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, happily presented his silver medal after the award ceremony on Tuesday. Duplantis’ margin of victory over Kendricks was as much as 30 cents.
– I raised another megajumper (Renaud Lavillenie) in the shade. I will not change the sport, but I will keep it alive and of high quality. “Mondo” is better and deserves all the credit, said Kendricks, who has jumped 606 himself.
The year 2021 cut deep
Paris was a very important competition for him, because the year 2021 cut deep. Kendricks was sidelined from the Olympic Games in Tokyo after giving a positive corona test result in the city of the competition, which has not been trusted to this day.
Kendricks, who served as a logistics officer in the US Armed Forces Reserves for eight years, gets up to speed on the subject.
– A huge part of what was done under the guise of the corona was complete nonsense. In Tokyo, they acted as cowards act. They were not sports competitions, Kendricks refers to the exclusion of spectators from the events in Tokyo 2021 as a corona precaution.
– These are sports competitions, he says and points to the crowded stands of the Stade de France.
– If you are afraid, stay at home, the gruff American continued.
Even this year, Kendricks was so angry about his treatment in Japan that he planned to skip the trip to Paris, even though he easily secured a place in the US championships.
On Tuesday, it wasn’t sad to have to leave.
– I am very proud of my medal and our jumping brotherhood. We only have one enemy, and that is the bar.