Favourite Paulino dodges rain and aims for Olympic 400m glory

The 27-year-old won two silvers at the Covid-delayed Tokyo Olympics, in the 400m and the mixed 4x400m relay.

Her 400m medal was a first-ever individual medal for a woman in athletics for the Dominican Republic.

That became silver and gold at the 2022 world championships in Eugene as Paulino famously overtook her idol, US track legend Allyson Felix, to triumph in the relay.

She struck individual gold a year later at the world championships in Budapest.

"The Marileidy who arrived in Tokyo was not well-known," Paulino told AFP in an interview.

"She hadn't raced much against the other athletes. Now many people know me. Winning a world title puts me firmly in the headlights of other athletes - I am one of the favorites."

Paulino, who has a personal best of 48.76sec, said she was coming into Paris in great shape.

"I have prepared myself super well for these Olympic Games.

"Physically and mentally I am more than ready, I know what I am going to do in each race. I just have to wait for the day to come.

"I have had many months of pre-Games work to be able to get here. I would feel satisfied with a time under 48 seconds and Olympic gold."

Two weeks of flu

Paulino joked, however, that all her preparations might have been upended if she had been soaked at Friday's opening ceremony on the River Seine for which she was her country's flagbearer on a boat.

"That was incredible because it was the first time for me carrying the Dominican flag, together with (gymnast) Audrys Reyes," she said.

"Many athletes would like to have been able to experience that. And on a boat, too!"

Paulino added: "Thank God, the rain didn't affect me at the end because when a little water falls on me I tend to get the 'flu right away and it lasts two weeks, but thankfully that didn't happen."

The Dominican said she was convinced she could one day get close to the 47.60sec world record set by then-East German Marita Koch in 1985 - one of the oldest marks in the books.

"I must wait for this moment," said Paulino, who was a top-level handball player before being scouted for athletics, where she started out primarily as a 200m sprinter.

"Be it at these Olympic Games, or the next ones, or at the next world championships. Perhaps one day I will be able to try," she said.

"I have all the conditions to be able to do it."