The twins, who turn 18 on August 17, have been standout high school athletes for the past few years with Tina developing more quickly than her sister Tia over the past couple of seasons.
Both were members of Jamaica’s 4x100m team that set a world record 42.94s at the World U20 Champions in Nairobi, Kenya last year. Both were also members of the team that ran 42.58, a world record at the 2022 Carifta Games held at the National Stadium in Kingston in April. However, that time was not ratified by World Athletics when Jamaican authorities failed to test Tia, who had won the 100m title the night before.
At the National Championships at the end of June, Tina, the World U20 100m, set a new national U20 record of 10.96, breaking the previous record of 10.97 set by Tokyo Olympic gold relay medallist Briana Williams.
Tia, the Carifta Games silver medallist, who was third at the national championships boasts a personal best of 11.25.
Sources indicate that on the basis of the incredible performance by Tina at the national championships several potential sponsors were chasing their signatures but according to a report in the Jamaica Observer, one of those companies managed to move ahead of the rest and seal a deal that will see the girls ending their respective impressive high school careers.
At MVP, Tina and Tia Clayton will most likely be under the guidance of Stephen Francis, who has enjoyed tremendous success over the past decade with two-time Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Elaine Thompson-Herah, the only woman to win the 100/200m double at consecutive Olympic Games.
Nationwide News reported this morning that Thompson-Herah, who created history at the Tokyo Olympic Games in August, has written to MVP and to her shoe sponsor Nike, informing them of her decision.
MVP President Bruce James told Nationwide that there are ongoing negotiations with the athlete about her future at the club.
Sportsmax.TV sources have subsequently indicated that Thompson-Herah has indeed informed the club that she is leaving. However, there is no indication yet as to where she might end up.
In Tokyo, Thompson-Herah became the first woman to defend 100 and 200m titles at the same Olympic Games. She set an Olympic record of 10.61 in the final of the 100m and then set a national record of 21.53 over 200m, the second-fastest time in history and eclipsed Merlene Ottey’s 25-year-old national record of 21.64.
Following her Olympic campaign where she also won gold in the 4x100m relay, Thompson-Herah ran times of 10.54, 10.64 and 10.65 making her the only woman to run four legal times under 10.70s. She also won the 100m Diamond League title in Zurich.
MVP’s history has been replete with the departures of major athletes. Sherone Simpson, Asafa Powell, Melaine Walker and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce have all left the club over the past decade, in some instances citing a conflict with the club’s hierarchy.
On Saturday, after she ran a world-leading time of 10.86 at the Velocity Fest meet at the National Stadium, Fraser-Pryce deflected when asked who was her coach.
“Who is my coach?” she asked, before breaking out into laughter. “You’re putting me on the spot? That’s for another time but as I said, I am grateful for how the season has gone so far and I am looking forward to what the season will bring, God’s willing, in 2021.”
The 33-year-old two-time Olympic 100m champion has been training under the guidance of Renaldo Walcott for several months now but there has been no official word that she has parted ways with Stephen Francis and the MVP Track Club. While with MVP, she built a legacy as one of the greatest female sprinters in history having won Olympic 100m titles in 2008 and 2012 and 100m World titles in 2009, 2013, 2015, and 2019. She also won a 200m title in Moscow in 2013.
However, she briefly left the club after the 2016 Rio Olympics and trained with Walcott in Santa Cruz in St. Elizabeth before returning to MVP in 2017.
In May, Sportsmax.TV reported that the athlete was once again training with Walcott, this time at the National Stadium in Kingston while the MVP athletes trained at the nearby Stadium East facility.
Asked recently whether the sprint queen was still with the club, Francis said: “I can’t answer that question. I know that she is not at training here but I can’t answer that question.”
If not, why is she reportedly training separately from her MVP teammates?
The recently minted four-time 100m world champion is, according to eyewitness accounts, now training under the watchful eye of Reynaldo Walcott at Jamaica’s National Stadium in Kingston while MVP’s athletes train at the nearby Stadium East facility.
Walcott, who coaches at St. Elizabeth Technical High School in Santa Cruz, Jamaica, briefly coached the two-time Olympic 100m champion after she left the club following the 2016 Rio Olympics campaign.
The Digicel Ambassador returned to the MVP track club in early 2017, eventually going on to win her fourth 100m world title in Doha in 2019 under the brilliant guidance of Coach Stephen Francis.
In response to queries from Sportsmax.TV, the athlete’s management has been mum on the issue.
Bruce James, Fraser-Pryce’s manager, said he was unable to comment on whether Walcott was once again coaching the woman many believe to be the greatest-ever female sprinter. Walcott also declined to comment when questioned by Sportsmax.TV on Thursday. “I cannot comment on that,” he said.
However, in the past few days, Fraser-Pryce’s name was reportedly on a list of athletes approved to train at Independence Park inside the National Stadium. Moreover, several individuals not affiliated with MVP, but who still declined to go on record, told Sportsmax.TV that looking on, they saw Fraser-Pryce training alone under Walcott’s watchful eye as recently as yesterday (Wednesday).
Sources indicate that Fraser-Pryce has not been at the MVP training site for several days. Some MVP athletes, those sources said, believe an injury is the reason for her absence.
The “Pocket Rocket’ first came to prominence at the MVP track club in 2008 when she surprised many by finishing second at the Jamaican National Championships in 10.82s behind Kerron Stewart but upstaging veterans Sherone Simpson and Veronica Campbell-Brown, who finished third and fourth, respectively.
At the Beijing Olympics that year, she won the 100m in 10.78, becoming the first Jamaican woman to win an Olympic 100m title. She followed up that performance by winning the first of her four 100m World titles in 10.73s at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, Germany.
She would go on to Moscow in 2013 where she won the treble (100m, 200m, 4x100m) and then defended her 100m title in Helsinki in 2015.
She battled a debilitating toe injury at the 2016 Rio Olympics where she won a bronze medal in the 100m before temporarily parting company with the club.
The joint national 100m record holder will be attempting to win a third 100m Olympic gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed until 2021 because of the Coronavirus COVID19 pandemic.
According to reports earlier this week, the double Olympic champion had submitted a letter to the club that stated her intentions to sever ties ahead of the new season. Later in the week, however, the athlete denied the reports suggesting that they may have arisen out of her not starting training as yet.
The athlete is, however, not back due in training as yet and Francis insists that while he is not jumping to conclusions the future remains uncertain.
“From my perspective, we start back training sometime in October, the 18th or 19th…and my philosophy, as usual, is to see who turns up,” Francis told Jamaica television station TVJ.
“What my experience tells me is that sometimes athletes, in general, especially those that come from a lower expectation level. In other words, not much was expected from them, they are usually unable to separate themselves from people who hop on to their bandwagon,” he added.
The 29-year-old is coming off her best season to date. Thompson-Herah successfully defended both the 100m and 200m title at the Olympics and joined with former MVP athlete Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Shericka Jackson, and Briana Williams to win the 4x100m relays. The sprinter later went on to record a blistering time just outside Florence Griffith-Joyner’s longstanding 100m record.
The MVP track club is no stranger to athletes leaving the club at the peak of their career with Fraser-Pryce and Melanie Walker also having secured moves away after years of success.
She has described those reports as rumours and said she is on a well-deserved break following her record-breaking season during which she became the first woman to successfully defend 100 and 200m titles at the same Olympic Games.
Reports emerged on Thursday that following her outstanding season, Thompson-Herah had taken a decision to leave MVP and going forward will be coached by her husband, Derron Herah.
Late Thursday, the 2021 Diamond League 100m champion appeared on the Brother from Another show on NBC Sports, denouncing the reports.
"I am the fastest woman alive so they are going to create some sort of news to distract the world so it's rumours of course. I have seen articles in the media that I have died before, more than once. There are always rumours in the media, they are always targeting me, I don't know why,” she told hosts, Michael Smith and Michael Holley.
"It's probably because I didn't show up at practice. I am still on my rest period, so maybe they are just speculating why I am not at practice, but I just came back from the international circuit and we normally get like a month's rest and I am in my second week.”
Thompson-Herah set a new Olympic record of 10.61 while defending her Olympic 100m title and 21.53 to win back-to-back titles in the 200m. She won a third gold on Jamaica’s 4x100 relay team. After the Olympics, she ran the fastest series of times in history – 10.54, 10.64, 10.72 and 10.65 – to close out the season as the only woman to run four wind-legal times faster than 10.70.
Informed sources have indicated that the athlete will have separate training schedules with Walcott ‘going to’ Thompson-Herah in a private setting after he completes his duties with Elite Performance at the Ashenheim Stadium at Jamaica College each day. Walcott reportedly shared the news with the athletes in group on Thursday morning.
Prior to the recent developments, Thompson-Herah, who owns her own gym equipment, trained at the National Stadium at Kingston’s Independence Park.
Andi Sports Management, the agent representing Thompson-Herah, who won a historic 100/200m double at both the Rio 2016 and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, announced on Monday that the 31-year-old athlete will now take instruction from Walcott.
“Out of difficulties grow miracles. Happy Monday,” the sprinter posted on Instagram as if in celebration over the development.
The move represents a quick-turnaround from her much-publicized separation from Coach Shanikie Osbourne after both parties could not agree on terms of compensation for a long-term arrangement.
Osbourne had assumed coaching duties for the five-time Olympic gold medallist after the Jamaica National Athletics Championships in July and shepherded the injury-plagued sprinter to her best times of the now-concluded 2023 track season.
After Thompson-Herah finished fifth in the 100m final at the championships in a relatively pedestrian 11.06, Osbourne had got her running fast again clocking times of 11.00, 10.92, 10.84 and 10.79 in consecutive races to end her season on a high.
Following her split from Osbourne, Thompson-Herah’s husband, Derron, revealed in an interview on Sportsmax late last week that a new coaching appointment was not far off. The surprising announcement came on Monday morning.
The news of the choice of coach was a surprise given Thompson-Herah’s contentious relationship with five-time World 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who has been coached by Walcott since early 2020. The relationship between the former good friends became increasingly strained while both were members of the MVP Track Club and was what eventually triggered Fraser-Pryce’s departure from the club to join what eventually became Elite Performance.
The 14-time Boys Championships winner last claimed the title in 2010, on the 100th year anniversary of the competition. Though being typically there or thereabout, the school has not been able to consistently compete for the Mortimer Geddes trophy.
The shakeup will see the school part ways with noted high school track and field coach Danny Hawthorne, who took over the job in 2016. The annual track and field event was cancelled last year, due to the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic, but the team has finished outside of the top five for the previous three years claiming 6th place positions in 2017, 2018, and 2019 editions. MVP club president Bruce James, a former student at the institution, confirmed the existence of the new arrangements.
“The headmaster of Wolmer’s Mr. Pennycoke has invited the MVP track club to play a positive role in the redevelopment of the Wolmer’s Boys track team, this takes effect on the first of January 2021,” James told Television Jamaica.
“The Wolmer’s Boys school happens to be where the MVP track and field club was founded and the MVP club’s management consists of Wolmer’s old boys such as Stephen Francis, Paul Francis, Andre Edwards, so we are happy to help the Wolmer’s Boys track and field team and the program he is building,” he added.
