In spirit of giving back to community, Olympian visits Catholic center for moms, children

HYATTSVILLE, Md. (OSV News) -- Thea LaFond-Gadson took home the gold in the women's triple jump during the Paris Olympics this past summer. LaFond-Gadson, who was born in Dominica, made history by winning the Caribbean island nation's first Olympic medal.
She is one of a handful of athletes to win a gold medal in the triple jump at the Olympics and at the World Athletics Indoor Championships.

LaFond-Gadson grew up in the Washington suburb of Silver Spring, Maryland, and in the spirit of giving back to her community, joined residents and staff of St. Ann's Center for Children, Youth and Families in Hyattsville, Maryland, also just outside Washington, for a pizza party on Sept. 10.

LaFond-Gadson was greeted in the St. Ann's auditorium, which was decorated in an Olympics theme and featured gold-star shaped paper plates for the spread that included Ledo's pizza, fruit, salad and doughnuts. Tables were decorated with plastic gold trophies and red and green tablecloths, reflecting the colors of Dominica's flag.

The Olympic champion posed for photos with children and mothers from St. Ann's in front of a Dominica flag. She watched as some of the children showed her their biggest jumps and allowed attendees to touch her gold medal. Before eating, she addressed the crowd.

"I think this is a place that really understands that it really takes a village," she said, adding that both biological family and extended family members helped her achieve success, and she was inspired by the community she met at the transitional living facility.

St. Ann's -- which was founded by the Daughters of Charity in 1860 -- is a home to more than 20 mothers and children in need, and aims to help the families gain independence through housing, child care, and employment assistance. The center's website states that "St. Ann's is committed to care that is safe, nurturing, healing, empowering, and strength-based and where all are served with compassion, dignity and respect." St. Ann's also has a teen mother and baby program that helps support young pregnant women.

LaFond-Gadson told the Catholic Standard, newspaper of the Washington Archdiocese, that she was first approached about attending the event when a member of the St. Ann's communications team messaged her on Instagram.

"I was truly kind of in awe" of the outreach to families at St. Ann's, she said. "Being able to have such a safe space for women and children in a transitional period in their lives, they're really housing people in some of the most vulnerable moments of life." The Olympian said that agreeing to meet with the residents of St. Ann's was a "no-brainer."

LaFond-Gadson grew up Catholic, and her family still attends St. John the Evangelist Church in Silver Spring. While she was a student at the University of Maryland in College Park, she was active at the Catholic Student Center there.

"I think what the Catholic Church did for me was actually provide me with this phenomenal community outside of my own biological family," LaFond-Gadson said.

LaFond-Gadson and her husband, Aaron Gadson, who also is her coach, were married at St. John the Evangelist Church two years ago. The pair met eight years ago when she was looking for a coach following the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and started dating soon after they began working together.

Prior to track becoming her full-time job, LaFond-Gadson also worked as a teacher at her alma mater, John F. Kennedy High School in Silver Spring, until about two years ago. She was a school and community-based paraeducator working in special education.

"Imagine, I used to literally, sometimes take off a Friday and head to the airport Thursday night and be back in a classroom Monday morning. They'd asked me where I'd go, and I'd be like, 'Oh, Finland,'" LaFond-Gadson said.

After her Olympic win, LaFond-Gadson took a trip to visit Dominica. She described how her arrival to her home country was met with an enthusiastic welcome.

"We did a motorcade the second day through half the country, and through part of it, we're a tropical island, so it rained, it stormed a little bit and I'm thinking, ‘Well, people will go inside,'" LaFond-Gadson said. "They just went and got umbrellas, and they came right back waving the flags. I've never seen so many flags before, but it almost seemed like a perfect little utopia where my little country, which is often divided by politics, really just came together."

With her growing acclaim and public recognition, LaFond-Gadson recognizes the weight her new platform holds. As of 2022, Dominica has a population of nearly 73,000 residents. According to LaFond-Gadson, she is often the first person from her county whom people have met, and she wants to set a good example.

"I feel like I have this responsibility to ensure that that first meeting is a positive one, is a respectful one, and it makes you feel like, ‘Wow, this is what these people are like. And they're amazing, they're wonderful.' I want us to be in the highest regard. This medal has only amplified that, and I'm not talking for every gold medalist out there, but since I've already been trying my best to have people view myself, and in the same breath, (view) Dominica in such a positive light, I think that it's only truly just branched out from that," LaFond-Gadson said.

As for the next Summer Olympics, which are set to take place in Los Angeles in 2028, LaFond-Gadson said she's "not quite sure" what the future holds.

"Life is happening, if the opportunity presents itself, then yes. If not, I'm grateful," she said.