Portugal’s last hope of the World Championships taking place in Budapest, Auriol Dongmo, will start this Saturday morning at 09:25 with his participation in the competition, in the elimination rounds of the shot put and also the final will be contested in the late afternoon at 19:15.
Given the absence of Pedro Pichardo and Patrícia Mamona and after Liliana Cá and Isaac Nader failed to place in the top three in the discus and 1500 meters finals respectively, it is the 33-year-old Sporting pitcher who, due to previous results not meeting expectations.
Auriol had already qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympics, was on the threshold of the Olympic podium in Tokyo 2020, with a fourth place, and was fifth at the Oregon World Cup 2022, but this year he joined the second European title at the indoor track in the world with the sixth best record of the year (19.72). The best thing the Portuguese woman has ever done, in 2023, the North Americans Maggie Ewen (20.45) and Chace Ealey (20.06), the Chinese Lijiao Gong (20.06), the Canadian Sara Mitton (19.83) and the Jamaican Danniel Thomas- Dodd (19.77). ). Last year, however, he set a personal best of 20.43 indoors and 19.82 outdoors, placing him in sixth place outdoors in 2022.
But Auriol will not be the only Portuguese woman to compete in the shot put. With more modest figures, Jéssica Inchude (18.65 in 2023) and Eliana Bandeira (18.49) will try their luck, who have the 22nd and 24th best records this year respectively.
From Cameroon to the Devotion to Fatima
Auriol Dongmo Mekemnang, a Portuguese national since October 2019, was born in Ngaoundéré, Cameroon, on August 3, 1990, and arrived in Portugal in 2017 to represent Sporting, the result of a bold personal initiative. Despite not being into social networks, she created a Facebook profile just to contact the lions. The club responded and the athlete traveled to Lisbon, but soon moved to Leiria where she lives and trains with Paulo Reis and with many trips to Fátima. “I am very Catholic and religion is very important to me. I have always loved Portugal because of Our Lady of Fátima. When Sporting contacted me, I saw the opportunity to get to know Portugal and Fátima,” he confessed. DN in March 2020.
On the verge of celebrating its 30th anniversary, Portugal was allowed to compete on July 26, 2020, allowing it to compete in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, which were held in 2021 due to the covid-19 pandemic.
But let’s go back. Auriol started playing handball and basketball until a physical education teacher challenged him to throw weights. Although she initially disliked the experience, she was so “upset” that she had a “talent for pitching” that they convinced her. And in 2007 he devoted himself to the shot and discus throw, later to concentrate exclusively on weight.
In Portugal it didn’t take long to show that the bet had been won, with figures above 17 metres, but in 2018 she became pregnant and had to take a break from competition, having resumed activity the following year, in time to claim the breaking national championships. record several times and get the first appearances and titles in continental and world competitions.
Source: DN
