July 31, (THEWILL) – In the absence of now suspended Africa’s sprint champion, Blessing Okagbare, Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah ran the second fastest women’s 100m time ever to retain her Olympic title with a record time for the Olympic Games at Tokyo 2020 in 10.61s.
Thompson-Herah, who completed a rare sprint double of winning gold medals in the 100m and 200m sprints at Rio de Janeiro in 2016, became the quickest woman alive by beating team-mate Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce to the gold.
It was a complete Jamaican podium finish as Team Jamaica athletes took all three medals after Shericka Jackson finished behind her compatriots to take the bronze medal.
In the dramatic events leading up to this final on the tracks, Dina Asher-Smith missed out on the final and tearfully pulled out of the 200m, revealing that she had been struggling with a hamstring injury which curtailed her chances for competing favourably.
Asher-Smith was seen as one of Great Britain’s primary medal hopes, and, in her absence, the other Brit in the race, Daryll Neita, contesting in her first ever Olympic final, finished eighth.
Only something special was going to deny Fraser-Pryce the gold and that was what Thompson-Herah produced in superb form. The new record holder had struggled with injury since her Rio double five years ago.
Now, she has an Olympic record to boast of and, in the history of female sprints only American sprint legend, Florence Griffith-Joyner, in 1959, has run quicker than her time.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
