• Camacho-Quinn’s gold medal means more than a record win.

When Jasmine Camacho-Quinn broke an Olympic record and won a gold medal in Tokyo, she celebrated a historic win as an athlete, a Black representative of Puerto Rico and a member of a family she just recently met.

Camacho-Quinn made history twice in Tokyo. She beat Kendra Harrison of the USA in the women’s 100meter hurdles and set an Olympic record of 12.26 seconds in the semifinal.

As Camacho-Quinn mounted the Olympic stage Monday, “La Borinqueña,” the island’s national anthem, rang in the background and she wore Puerto Rico’s national flower in her hair.

Monica Velez, born in Guaynabo, said she was brought to tears seeing the Puerto Rican flag worn by a woman who looked like her on the Olympic stage. “There’s nothing like seeing my island win but even better is seeing a beautiful Black boricua doing it. Someone who looks like me,” she told USA TODAY. “The representation, the love the island is showing her, it’s amazing.” Velez has been a fan of Camacho-Quinn since her first Olympic run in 2016. She said that for most of her life, Velez’s own Blackness felt erased from her Puerto Rican heritage, but now she feels represented by Camacho-Quinn.

Angel Jones, a professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, said on Twitter that Camacho-Quinn is reshaping the narrative of what Puerto Ricans look like and giving young girls of all colors a role model.

“Jasmine, in all her melanated glory, is challenging dominant narratives of what Latinx peopled look like,” Jones, who is Puerto Rican, told USA TODAY.

Though Camacho-Quinn was born in South Carolina, she decided to run for Puerto Rico to honor her heritage because her mother was born in Puerto Rico. “I am pretty sure everybody (in Puerto Rico) is excited,” Camacho-Quinn told reporters. “For such a small (territory), it gives little people hope. I am just glad I am the person to do that.”

Camacho-Quinn’s journey to Tokyo led her to reconnect with mother’s side of the family in Puerto Rico. At 19, she traveled to the island for training and finally met her grandmother. A year later, her “Abuelita Carmen” died. “After 19 years, I finally got to see you, meet you & hug you. I finally found my ‘twin’ I would say,” she wrote on Instagram. “Because I never knew who I looked like truly. I’m so glad I got to meet you.”