If you were watching the discus throw during Olympics coverage and the name Roje Stona rang a bell, you aren’t imagining things. Yes, that’s the same player who got a tryout with the Green Bay Packers back in rookie minicamp.
The Jamaican athlete threw the discus 70 meters in Paris, marking his career personal best mark and an Olympic record. He’s also going to be remembered in history as the first Jamaican to ever win Olympic gold in the event fStona originally attended Clemson as a track and field athlete before transferring to Arkansas.
After his college career was done, Stona began training for a potential conversion into football, which included him meeting with NFL teams at Arkansas’ pro day. Ultimately, he earned rookie minicamp tryout opportunities with both the Packers and New Orleans Saints this spring. In the same month that he attended both minicamps, though, he was still competing in the discus throw at the LA Grand Prix. Two months later, he officially made the Olympic cut.or his home country.
Whether or not the 6’7”, 263-pounder will return to football, a sport he never played until he reached the professional level, has yet to be determined. Certainly, NFL teams seem interested enough, as long as he’s going to focus on the sport. With Olympic gold under his belt now, it’s going to be tough for Stona to just ignore the success he’s had in athletics, though.
