Thompson-Herah sprints to Olympic double-double
It feels amazing to win two golds again. I have had a rough week. I haven’t slept after the 100m final. I really had to pull it out to win 200m. ELAINE THOMPSONHERAH, Jamaican sprinter
TOKYO: It was billed as a starstudded race that anyone could win. So long as that person’s name was Elaine.
Elaine Thompson-Herah blew away a much-decorated field in the 200m on Tuesday. The latest sprint star from Usain Bolt’s island country of Jamaica completed her second straight Olympic sprint sweep in 21.53 seconds, the second-fastest time in history.
“It means a lot to me to be in that history, to be in that workhard book,” said ThompsonHerah, who spent much of 2021 ailing with an Achilles injury and didn’t reach top form until she got to Japan.
It marked the second time in four nights that ThompsonHerah has won a sprint and recorded a time that fell short of only the late Florence Griffith Joyner’s hallowed, 33-year-old world records. The 200m record is 21.34s.
In the 100m, ThompsonHerah started pointing at the clock a few steps before the finish line and finished in 10.61, which was good for the Olympic record but not Flo Jo’s overall mark of 10.49.
In the 200m, ThompsonHerah ran hard all the way through and stuck her tongue out as she pushed her chest forward at the line.
Both finishes, of course, equalled gold medals, and now Thompson-Herah will have at least four when she gets back to Jamaica. There’s a chance for a fifth if she competes in the women’s 4x100m relay. “By the Olympic finish, I’ll probably see what I’ve done,” said the 29-yearold, who grew up in Banana Ground on the southern side of the island. “At this moment, I’m just a normal girl.”
She topped surprise secondplace finisher Christine Mboma of Namibia by .48s, while American Gabby Thomas took bronze at 21.87.
This was a much-accomplished field of finalists, defined as much by who didn’t finish on the podium as who did. ShellyAnn Fraser-Pryce, who beat
Thompson-Herah at both distances in Jamaica’s national championships, finished fourth (21.94) to barely miss out on her eighth Olympic medal.
Thomas, world’s fastest neurobiology grad
Thomas, the neurobiology grad from Harvard, ran a 21.61 at Olympic trials that staked her claim, however briefly, as the second-fastest woman in history. It completely realigned her thoughts about what was possible in Tokyo.
“It feels amazing because I really worked for that one,” Thomas said. “I fought tooth and nail those last 30 meters.”
While Thompson-Herah is drawing comparisons to Bolt, she joins yet another Jamaican, Veronica Campbell-Brown, along with Barbel Wockel of the former East Germany as the third back-to-back champion in the 200m.
If Thompson-Herah’s win was no surprise, then Mboma’s second-place finish was a stunner that figures to bring one of sports’ thorniest issues back to the fore. Mboma moved to the 200 because she wasn’t allowed in the 400, which is her favorite event, because of a high natural testosterone, which meant they fell under the same regulations that have sidelined two-time Olympic champion Caster Semenya of South Africa in the 800m.
In the final, Mboma broke the under-20 world record for the third time in a week, and looked stunned when she crossed the finish line.