Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce did not beat Usain Bolt to his hat trick, but her teammate Elaine Thompson kept the women’s Olympic 100-meter gold medal in Jamaican hands by winning the fastest dash in history in 10.71 seconds Saturday at the Rio Olympics. She is also the first Puerto Rican woman to medal at an Olympics. He got up and had enough left for a strong finishing kick that brought him to the line in 27:05.17, ahead of Paul Tanui of Kenya (27:05.64) and Tamarit Tola of Ethiopia (27:06.26).
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But it was Farah’s heroic recovery that was the only talking point of a display that was every bit as memorable as his win in London four years ago.
Farah meanwhile fell midway through the race as he got entangled with American training partner Galen Rupp. But he brilliantly recovered to get back in the race, hunting down the leaders and powering to gold. “When I went down I thought, ‘Oh my God, that’s it, ‘” Farah said. “I have seen her work hard, and it was her time”, Fraser-Pryce said. “It made me emotional”. She describes it as “a violent place, overpopulated, children having children”.
Fraser-Pryce was trying to become the first person to win three straight 100-meter titles at the Olympics but settled for a bronze medal.
The 100m final initially appeared impossible to call after all eight women qualified in sub-11 second times but as it turned out, Thompson won comfortably in 10.71 after hitting the front at halfway. Tori Bowie of the United States came from behind to take silver with a time of 10.83.
Jamaica won the women’s 4x100m relay once, back in 2004 at the Athen Olympic Games.
“I think I’m really happy about last night, considering everything that could have gone wrong and what could have gone right, it went right for me”, Fraser-Pryce, speaking courtesy of Nike, told Omnisport. In her country, Thompson is considered the next big thing.
In a thrilling finish, long-shot Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium upset defending gold medalist Jessica Ennis-Hill to win the heptathlon. I’m on the podium with my training partner.
“I’m very excited I’m really happy, Jamaica has so many talented sprinters and to be only the second Olympic champion I’m really happy about that”. She runs a hair salon, which will be believable to anyone who saw the gradient yellow-to-green hairstyle she was rocking Saturday night. Ranked 34th, she added her surprising win over the second-seeded Kerber – the Australian Open champion and Wimbledon runner-up this year – to those she picked up against two other past major champions, Garbine Muguruza and Petra Kvitova. “It’s insane!” said Thiam.
American Jeff Henderson continued America’s proud tradition in the event when he flew 8.38 meters on his final jump, edging out South African Luvo Manyonga. Defending champion Greg Rutherford of Great Britain took bronze.
Henderson dedicated the medal to his mother, who is bedridden with Alzheimer’s.
“My mum can’t be here, she has Alzheimer’s”.
“I’m kind of different because I wasn’t like a star in high school”, said Thompson, a former high-school troublemaker who hails from Banana Ground, in Manchester Parish, 50 miles west of Kingston. (Marion Jones won in Sydney in 2000, but was stripped of her gold medal after she admitted to using steroids in 2007).
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Elaine Thompson did not know how to react after storming to victory in the women’s 100 metre final at Rio 2016 on Saturday.
