While Monday night was a special one for Brazil, with pole vaulter Thiago Braz da Silva winning the nation’s second gold medal of these games and their first-ever Olympic gold in the pole vault, it wasn’t the happiest of experiences for France’s Renaud Lavillenie.
The current world record holder in the pole vault, Lavillenie was also the defending Olympic champion in the event. But with Thiago Braz not only pulling off the upset but breaking Lavillenie’s Olympic record in doing so, the former Olympic champion heads home with a silver medal. And while Lavillenie didn’t have anything negative to say about his competitor, he wasn’t as positive with his words when it came to the crowd in attendance.
Following those comments Lavillenie stated that he will be back to reclaim the gold medal in Tokyo in 2020. That’s a long wait, and by the look of things he’ll be thinking about Monday night for quite some time.