Former Boise State track and field star Roderick Townsend topped the podium at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games on Saturday, Aug. 29, for the T46/47 class in the high jump.
Photo courtesy of Boise State Athletics
Townsend set a world record mark of 2.14 meters in the high jump in 2019. Two years later, he broke his own record at 2.15 meters and claimed gold.
Townsend claimed his first victory in 2016 at the Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, where he earned two gold medals in the high jump and the long jump. Townsend also took fifth place in the 100-meter in Rio.
Along with Townsend, former Boise state track and field star and two-time Olympian Jordin Andrade appeared in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics this summer.
Andrade represented Cape Verde in the 400-meter hurdles and was privileged to be a flag-bearer for Cape Verde in the opening ceremony on July 23.
Photo courtesy of Boise State Athletics
In heat four of the event, Andrade competed out of lane seven finishing with a time of 50.64 seconds. He placed seventh in his heat and 32nd overall.
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics weren’t Andrade’s first Olympic games. In 2016, he competed at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro where he became the first Cape Verdean to ever reach a semifinal round at the Olympic Games. He placed 16th in the 400-meter hurdles.
According to a press release from Boise State Athletics, Andrade is one of seven former Boise State track and field student-athletes to compete at the Olympic level.
Other former Broncos include Nick Cunningham, Kurt Felix, Troy Kemp, Wendell Lawrence, Eric Matthias and Jarred Rome.
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