Controversial Olympian Alysha Newman throws first pitch for Blue Jays, fans react: "I love this"

Modified Apr 02, 2025 08:09 GMT

Alysha Newman throwing the ceremonial first pitch for the Toronto Blue Jays (Image from - Instagram.com/@bluejays)

Ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays' series opener against the Washington Nationals at home on Monday, pole vaulter Alysha Newman was invited to throw the ceremonial first pitch.

Newman won medals at the 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games, and a bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics, but has courted controversy with her presence on OnlyF*ns.

A series of snaps of Newman's visit to Rogers Centre on Monday was posted by the Blue Jays' Instagram handle ahead of the game.

"We’ve got an Olympian in the house 🇨🇦 It’s Alysha Newman - 2024 Pole Vault Bronze Medallist!" the Instagram post was captioned.

Plenty of fans showered Newman with compliments in the comments.

"Way to go 👏" one fan wrote.

"I love this!! 😍😍" another fan posted.

Screenshots of fans' comments on Instagram (Image from - Instagram.com/@bluejays)

"What a fantastic pitch @alyshanewman 🔥🙌😍" another fan shared.

"She’s so inspiring and reppin’ my fave team 😍😍" another fan replied.

"So proud of you Aly ❤️❤️❤️" another fan responded.

Alysha Newman sends 4-word message after Blue Jays victory

Olympic Bronze medalist Alysha Newman seems to be a lucky charm for the Blue Jays as they won the game against the Nationals 5-2 after her ceremonial first pitch. Andres Gimenez was the star of the show, hitting a home run and scoring three runs.

After the Blue Jays' victory, Newman shared a snap on her Instagram, where she posed with pitcher Jeff Hoffman and Ace, the mascot of the Toronto-based team. The Olympian stood in the middle as she highlighted the ball she threw, while Ace seemed to flex his muscles. The story also featured the song "Let's Go Blue Jays" by Azeem Haq.

"Great win last night!" - Newman captioned the post.

Alysha Newman's Instagram story [Image Source - @alyshanewman on Instagram]

The Blue Jays also won the next game against the Nationals, 5-3. With the victory, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Co. have won the three-match series against the National League East team. The Jays had drawn their four-match opening series against their divisional rivals, Baltimore Orioles.

About the author

Raghav Mehta is a baseball journalist at Sportskeeda awaiting results for a Bachelor's in Journalism from Delhi University. He enjoys highlighting the key battles between players at different stages of the game and analyzing the decisive moments upon which they hinge.

One of Raghav's favorite moments, which underscores this, was the Shohei Ohtani vs. Mike Trout clash in the 2023 WBC, where two of baseball's best players faced off against each other in the 9th inning. With the score 3-2 to Japan, Shohei eventually got the strikeout, which was absolute cinema.

Raghav is a Baltimore Orioles fan and is enjoying watching such an exciting young team compete at the top in a very competitive division.

Raghav has loved watching sports for as long as he can remember and realized he was pretty decent at writing his thoughts down at around the age of 14. Combining the two meant he had something he would enjoy doing every day, and he had identified that well before going to college.

Aside from work, Raghav enjoys playing sports, working out and watching movies.

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Edited by Nicolaas Ackermann