On Sunday, Raven Saunders received a silver medal within the shot-put on the Tokyo Video games. On Tuesday, NBC reported that her mom had died in Orlando, Fla., the place she had gone to attend an Olympic watch occasion for her daughter.
Saunders known as her mom, Clarissa Saunders, her “primary guardian angel” in a message on Twitter.
Herbert Johnson, Raven Saunders’s longtime coach, confirmed her mom’s dying in a Fb submit. He mentioned that Clarissa Saunders and Raven’s sister, Tanzy, had gone from Charleston, S.C., the Saunders household’s hometown, to Orlando to look at Raven compete within the Olympics.
Raven Saunders didn’t disappoint. Sporting hair dyed inexperienced on the appropriate and purple on the left and a masks that was a nod both to the Joker or the Hulk (her nickname), she defeated all opponents however Gong Lijiao of China.
Saunders, 25, introduced consideration to her feat, dancing and singing “Celebration” afterward and later, on the medals podium, crossing her arms within the form of an X, a gesture she mentioned was “for oppressed individuals.”
“Not being there’s a bummer,” Clarissa Saunders mentioned of not with the ability to be along with her daughter in Tokyo, The State, a newspaper in Columbia, S.C., reported. “However hey, we’re cheering from right here … and she or he is aware of we’re right here cheering for her.”
Saunders, who completed fifth within the shot-put within the 2016 Rio Video games, has publicly praised her mom for her assist. In an Instagram submit on Mom’s Day, Saunders mentioned of her mom: “You’ve proven me what power is and for that I can push by way of something. You’ve proven me relentlessness and for that I’ve discovered willpower.”
Mayor John Tecklenburg of Charleston known as Clarissa Saunders “Raven’s strongest supporter.”
“On behalf of the residents of Charleston, we pray for Raven and her household, and be part of them in grieving this unimaginable loss,” Mr. Tecklenburg mentioned in an announcement.
