Elaine Thompson ended fellow Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce’s bid for a third straight Olympic 100 metres title by storming to gold in Rio.
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Defending Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce won her heat of the women’s 100-meter Friday night in Rio de Janeiro.
Thompson’s winning time is the second-fastest recorded this year, one-hundredth of a second slower than the 10.7secs she ran at the Jamaican Championships last month.
Usain Bolt, who have his title at an unprecedented track triple in the men’s 100m on Sunday, was quick to congratulate the pair on Twitter, lauding Fraser-Pryce “for fighting and showing the heart of champ”. “And he said, ‘Give me back my gold medal and you keep your gold medal, ‘” Henderson said. Injured in 2012, she took her 100m personal best from 11.41 to 11.17 in 2014 and then to 10.84 previous year.
“But I’m proud of myself for growing as an adult and believing that I could run up against these girls and really trying to make it to the final”.
The hullabaloo over the Phelps’ farewell overshadowed the achievement of the women’s 4x100m medley relayers as they captured their country’s 1,000th Olympic medal, according to the United States Olympic committee.
The 29-year-old Fraser-Pryce, who was the flag bearer for the Jamaicans at the opening ceremony, suffered from an injury in her left toe before the Prefontaine Classic in May. That’s one of the reasons I feel that if you feel you have chosen the right person for you then you will know.
Jamaica swept the 100 meters in 2008 in Beijing, and for the second straight Olympics, it claimed two out of three medals.
Another former Golden Eagle, Mariam Kromah, competed in the Women’s 400 meters earlier in the day and she finished fifth in her heat; just short of qualifying for the semifinals.
It would’ve given her one day’s worth of bragging rights over Bolt, the oversized sprinter with the outsized personality who has overshadowed her in nearly everything despite their dual dominance.
But she had been plagued by a toe injury all season long and struggled in competition in the lead-up to the Games.
Thompson, 24, got off to a flying start and quickly surged to the front to cross in 10.71sec, punching the air before embracing training partner Fraser-Pryce.
At the end of the 800, most of the athletes collapsed on the track, illustrating how grueling the seven-event, two-day competition is.
Fraser-Pryce also got only bronze instead of becoming the first woman to win in an individual event in Olympic athletics three times in a row, as the rampant Thompson was unstoppable. As Canada faded after its aggressive start, Britain took the silver and Romania the bronze.
“When I went down, I thought, ‘Oh my God, that is it.’ I just got up and wanted to stick with the guys and stay strong”.
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American Jeff Henderson’s final leap of 8.38 meters (27 feet, 6 inches) brought him a surprise long jump gold medal over Luvo Manyonga of South Africa and Greg Rutherford of Britain.
