While wearing a stylish wig mirroring her country's national colours, Fraser-Pryce led a Jamaican sweep as Shericka Jackson claimed the silver medal in a personal best of 10.73, which sees her surpass compatriot Merlene Ottey as the third-fastest Jamaican woman. Only Fraser-Pryce (10.60) and Elaine Thompson-Herah (10.54) have run faster.
Thompson-Herah, the Tokyo Olympics 100m champion, was third this time around in a relatively pedestrian 10.81 as the Jamaican women swept the medal places in consecutive global championships.
However, the moment belonged to the 35-year-old Pocket Rocket, who had won the previous 100m titles in 2009, 2013, 2015 and an unprecedented fourth in 2019. She was fourth in Daegu in 2011 because of injury and missed out in 2017 because she was pregnant with her son Zyon.
“I can't even imagine the amount of times I've had setbacks and I've bounced back and I'm here again," said Fraser-Pryce, who became the first athlete to win five titles in the same running event since the World Championships began in 1983.
Only pole vaulter Sergey Bubka, hammer thrower Pawel Fajdek and discus great Lars Riedel have also won the same single disciple five or more times.
"I continue to remind myself that sometimes it's not because you don't have the ability, but it's the right time. Today was the right time," she continued.
"I feel blessed to have this talent and to continue to do it at 35, (after) having a baby, still going, and hopefully inspiring women that they can make their own journey," added Fraser-Pryce.
"Whenever I'm healthy I'm going to compete. I'm hungry, I'm driven and I always believe I can run faster and I'm not going to stop until I stop believing that."
Fraser-Pryce has now been involved in three 100m medal sweeps for Jamaica. She was the winner in a Jamaican 1-2-2 finish with Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and was second to Thompson-Herah in a Jamaican 1-2-3 at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Shericka Jackson won the bronze.
The colourful Jamaica star first burst onto the world stage in 2008, as a 21-year-old, after capturing gold at the Beijing Olympics. One year later, the athlete proved she would be a force to be reckoned with after repeating the feat at the 2009 Berlin World Championship.
In a sport that is marked as much for its brevity at the very top level, as much as it is for blazing speed, 13 years later Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was once again crowned world champion in Oregon this week after dashing to gold in a blistering 10.67, her fastest time at a major games, at a jaw-dropping 35-years old.
As a testament to her remarkable longevity, the sprinter has remained the one constant in a changing sea of 100m athletes during the period. In the previous four World Championships finals, Fraser-Pryce has competed against 23 different athletes, the majority of which have now retired from the sport.
“Each time I step out on to the track I’m always feeling blessed to be able to do it because I know there are so many people I’ve competed with who have retired or they are injured or whatever it is. I’m just feeling blessed and am grateful to be able to continue,” Fraser-Pryce said.
In addition to being the oldest sprinter to win the 100m title, she also embarked on the journey of motherhood after taking time away from the sport in 2017 to have her first child, only to return to dominate.
“Age is a part of life, everyone will get to that stage, and taking time out to have a child is just part of the journey.”
Thompson-Herah clocked a new personal best of 10.54 in the women’s 100m, just outside of the longstanding world record set by Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988. Similar to the finish at the Olympics a few weeks ago, her compatriots Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (10.73) and Shericka Jackson (10.76) we second and third.
Heading into the race, however, the focus had been on the return to the sprints of American Sha’Carri Richardson. Richardson had run 10.72 in April and won the US trials to set up the prospect of an intriguing match-up at the Olympics. The 21-year-old was, however, suspended ahead of Tokyo after returning a positive test for marijuana.
Ahead of the Wanda Diamond League, many framed the race as an Olympic do-over for the American, who certainly headed into the event sky-high on confidence with plenty of pre-race chatter to boot. It did not go to plan. Richardson finished last in 11.14, and at the end of the race, the Olympic do-over had the same three medallists as the original. On Richardson’s placing and pre-race chatter, the decorated sprint queens had no comment.
“I wasn’t watching Sha’Carri to be honest,” Fraser-Pryce, who went viral for a cheeky post-race smirk as she passed by the American being interviewed, said.
“No, you shouldn’t have,” Fraser-Pryce replied when anyone should have really been surprised by another Jamaican sweep.
Fraser-Pryce may well have a point, perhaps expecting Richardson, who is yet to win a major medal, to match up to the in-form Jamaican 100m medallist, who in total have 8 Olympic medals between them and three of the four fastest times in history, might have been a stretch.
“I didn’t hear much of that,” Thompson-Herah said when quizzed on the American's pre-race comments.
“No comment on that,” the athlete added when asked for her assessment of Richardson’s performance.
The athlete’s exploits over the past few weeks have astonished the majority of the track and field world. A truly dominant performance at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics saw her not only successfully defend her title in both the 100 and 200m but set the second-fastest times ever recorded over the distance.
For good measure, she added a 4x100m relay gold medal to the mix to leave the game with three medals. Scrolling through the social media feed of her sponsor @Nike, on both their Twitter and Instagram main feeds, you would never know any of those accomplishments had occurred.
The feed did, however, during the period, congratulate the USA Women’s Basketball team, 800 metre runner Athing Mu and Kenyan long-distance runner Eliud Kipchoge who are all sponsored by the brand.
The last straw for many, however, would have been the placement of an ad featuring USA sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson ahead of her return to the track at the Prefontaine Classic last week. The much-hyped ad featured Nike’s caption ‘No more waiting. Let the @carririchardson_ show begin.’ The race featured both Thompson and compatriot Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce, another Nike-sponsored athlete and Olympic silver medallist. Richardson is yet to win a medal and missed out on the chance of doing so at the Olympics after incurring a brief suspension for testing positive for marijuana.
Thompson summarily dismissed Richardson, and the rest of the field for that matter, after winning the race in a mind-blowing 10.54, with Richardson failing to live up to the pre-race hype after finishing in 9th position. The Jamaican’s time smashed the already impressive 10.62 mark she set at the Olympics and was just 0.5 seconds outside of Florence Griffith Joyner’s long-standing world record. The irony of the situation was not lost on the Jamaica track fans on social media and they made their feeling known by commenting on the post with the Richardson ad on the company’s IG page.
blkdynamit.snkr
The ppl hype her is she the Olympics double double champion and the fastest female in the world? I thought it was Elaine? ??♂️??♂️??♂️??♂️??♂️
makonem_theheir
She just got smokedddd.. Not even top 4.?????.. I guess the show got postponed
jovem_rei._
All of this for last place sis?
The company has congratulated Thompson-Herah on its “Nike Running” page, which has 5.7M followers, but not their main @Nike page which has 170M followers. Some fans have started a campaign to boycott the brand.
The two-time Olympic 100m gold medallist was slated to begin her season at the Botswana Golden Grand Prix on April 29, but withdrew citing a ‘family emergency’, the details of which remain a mystery. However, with the emergency hopefully behind her, the 36-year-old track and field star, said she keen on seeing where she is at this season.
“I am just looking forward to just competing well. I have not run since September last year and it’s a different year so you kind of want to see where you’re at as opposed to last year when I ran a 200m in Kingston before I came here; this time I didn’t run anything so this is me just coming to see where I’m at and having a good time and execute and I am sure it will be fantastic,” said Fraser-Pryce who ran a world-leading 10.67 at the 2022 edition.
Fraser-Pryce, who at 35 won her fifth world 100m title in Eugene, Oregon last summer to become the oldest female ever to win a global sprint title, said she believes she in great shape heading into the meet on Saturday but was quick to temper expectations on what she will deliver on Saturday.
“I am feeling good, to be honest, I’m feeling 21, which is good,” she joked, “but no two years are ever the same so you continue to work and trust that whatever things that you correct in training or things that you are working on that you would come and execute those things and it will all come together.
“But last year, it’s just to build on that, build on the experiences and the moments that I had last year into this year.”
The Jamaican superstar, who will be 37 years old in December, is attempting to win a third Olympic 100m gold medal to add to the ones she won in Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012. She will also be hoping to extend her incredible record of being the only woman to win a medal in the 100m at five consecutive Olympic Games.
It is a tall order, especially when one considers that she will be attempting these history-making feats against possibly the fastest women’s 100m field ever assembled, especially if the likes of world champion Sha’Carri Richardson (10.65), Shericka Jackson (10.65), Elaine Thompson-Herah (10.54), Marie Josee Ta Lou (10.72) and Julien Alfred (10.81) show up in their best form.
However, like the warrior she has been for more than a decade, the self-styled Pocket Rocket remains undaunted. But first, she has to heal her body that has been showing signs of wear and tear with knee, hamstring and other undisclosed injuries that significantly impacted her 2023 season.
“It’s not really my knee alone that has been giving me trouble but at this stage of my career I am trying to be patient in my recovery, making sure I give myself enough time to come back and not to rush coming back,” said the five-time world 100m champion.
“One of the beauties about me is the fact that I am really tough mentally and I know what the end goal is, what I want to achieve and what I need to do to get there. So, I really want to be patient with myself and trust in my doctors and my team to make sure that next year I am ready to stand on the line first at the national championships and then ultimately, in Paris.
“I know within my heart that there is so much more to come and once I have that belief and that God will give me the strength to get to that point.”
She expressed unwavering confidence that once she is healthy again, she will be capable of taking on all challengers who will likely line up in Paris.
“Without a doubt. It’s athletics, injuries happen,” she declared. “I have been blessed to not have many throughout my career and I think that is what I am relying on, the fact that I have been relatively good in terms of health; apart from my knee and whatever else is happening, I’ve been good. I am just looking forward to just getting healthy 100 per cent fit and sometimes you won’t be 100 per cent but 90 is good enough for me.”
Fraser-Pryce, who boasts a personal best of 10.60 which makes her the third fastest woman all time, said she will rely on her tried and proven method of success that has seen her win two individual 100m gold medals, five World 100m titles, a 200m title and a chest full of other medals during the course of her career that began 16 years ago as a relay substitute at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan.
“The depth of the sprinters has always been there, for female sprinting. There’s always a host of different athletes that are coming and preparing and for me the focus is staying focused on your own lane, on what you need to do to get to the top, “she said. “As far as I am concerned having competition is good. It pushes you, it makes you aware that you can’t just go to practice and think that’s enough. You have to work, you have to be committed to that work and you have to be willing to go the extra mile.
“I don’t think about the depth, really, it’s always been there, it’s not going to change. It is what it is. It’s the Olympics, everybody wants to win an Olympic medal. So I don’t want to spend my time focusing on what others are doing but instead I invest the time and effort in my own craft and make sure that when the Olympics come around I will be ready.”
The 39-year-old VCB, the only woman to win a medal in five consecutive Olympics, in a post on social media said the time had come to hang up her spikes.
“As I take off my spikes never to put them on again, this girl from Clarks Town, Trelawny, walks away happy and contented with a race well run,” VCB said in her post, indicating that a career as a mother, entrepreneur and motivational speaker awaits.
In response, Fraser-Pryce, who like VCB is a two-time Olympic champion, thanked the track and field icon, who has helped pave the way for so many other Jamaican women.
“Thanks for leading the way @VCampbellBrown!! Carrying the torch and continuing the legacy for Jamaica,” the Pocket Rocket tweeted Wednesday.
Fraser-Pryce was a member of Jamaica’s team to the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan where she was a relay alternate. However, the following year, VCB effectively passed the torch to Fraser-Pryce when the latter booked her place on Jamaica’s team to the Beijing Olympics, by finishing second at the national championships in Kingston, clocking 10.82.
VCB was fourth in 10.88.
Since then, Frater Pryce has been Jamaica’s leading female sprinter winning Olympic 100m titles in 2008 and 2012 as well as four World titles in the 100m.
She held a fast-finishing Shericka Jackson, who also produced a lifetime best of 21.82 for the runner-up spot. Elaine Thompson-Herah, the 2016 Olympic champion, finished third in a season-best 22.02.
It was a seminal moment for Fraser-Pryce, who won a silver medal over 200m at the 2012 London Games and gold a year later at the 2013 World Championships in Moscow.
“I am excited because, look at me, for everything I have achieved over the years, I’ve never taken it for granted. I always knew what I was capable of and I am glad I never gave up and I stuck to what I believed in and kept close to the persons who believed in me and continued to work hard for that dream and I am glad to finally break the 22-second barrier,” she said.
The improvements this season that allowed her to run lifetime bests of 10.63 and 21.79, she said, was the result of the hard work Coach Reynaldo Walcott put her through during the off-season as well as her own resolve to continue to strive for excellence despite whatever challenges life throws at her.
“The key part of the preparation was just the endurance part in making sure I was strong to manage all the rounds, I think that was very important,” she said.
“I am grateful that I was able to put together the work and I give God thanks because I have had struggles, especially with my toe, but I am a warrior so whatever it is, I am always going to show up and do my best and as long as I do that then I am always satisfied.”
She also praised Coach Walcott, the head coach at Elite Performance, with whom she has enjoyed a harmonious relationship ever since her early days at the MVP track club.
“Mr Walcott has always been a friend. He was part of the MVP track club, we started UTech (University of Technology) at the same time so I have always had that belief in him,” she said, also taking time to praise her former coach Stephen Francis.
“I think what’s also important is that we have always had a foundation as well from Stephen Francis and MVP Track Club so I can’t take that for granted and what he had done to my career so far. So, it’s just a continuation of the hard work and the coaches. I am just glad that I have had two solid coaches.”
Fraser-Pryce said she plans to immediately get back to work to continue to prepare for the Games this summer.
“The Olympics are not that far away so it’s about being very meticulous in the work and being mindful, stay injury free and doing the best I can to stay healthy.”
Rasheed Dwyer won the men's title in season-best 20.17 ahead of Yohan Blake 20.18. Tyquendo Tracey, the 100m champion, was third in 20.34.
In an interview with Athletics Weekly, the former 200m and 400m world record holder offered an interesting new lens to look at the sport, saying we should focus on head-to-head duels rather than fixating on times.
Johnson said that nowadays, track and field is too focused on the times and not focused enough on the rivalry and the storytelling behind the scenes as well, and the women’s 100m rivalry between Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Elaine Thompson-Herah is a perfect opportunity to showcase that.
“Yeah, I mean I would say that it’s a perfect example of the problem because I don’t think that Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce or Elaine Thompson-Herah get enough credit for what they’ve done in the sport because we’re so focused on times,” said Johnson.
“So, you know right now I can see that you know what’s going to happen most likely with Elaine is, there’s going to continue for the remained of her career unless she breaks the World record in the 100m, a focus now on whether she breaks the world record or not and if she doesn’t, you know there’s a danger that people will be disappointed,” he said.
The 29-year-old Thompson-Herah is a five-time Olympic champion and the 100m and 200m title holder from both Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
At 35, Fraser-Pryce has three Olympic gold medals – eight medals in total – including the gold-standard 100m crown won at both Beijing 2008 and London 2012. She is also a nine-time world champion and the reigning world gold medallist at 100m.
“I mean, then the fact that you have at the same time these two women from this very small island, who go head-to-head you know at these championships and they, between the two of them, they’ve won the gold medals in the 100m over the last four Olympic Games,” said Johnson.
The current 100m world record has stood since 1988, Florence Griffith-Joyner, also known as Flo-Jo, became the only woman ever to break the 10.5-second barrier with a run of 10.49 at the US Olympic trials in 1988. Since then, many have deemed the mark impossible to beat – not least because of controversy regarding possible wind assistance at those trials.
Johnson feels instead of focusing on the world record, we should be focused more on these athletes and their ability to deliver when it counts at championships.
“You know that’s incredible and I think that should be celebrated. And if I think if we were focused more on these athletes and their ability to deliver when it counts at championships and win the head-to-head battle as opposed to well this time and what was the wind and you know is it a national record and how close is it to the world record and all of those things, I think we are robbing ourselves and the sport of its greatness,” he said.
“I came back home with a fire,” the 33-year-old icon told former Miss Jamaica Universe and Miss Universe runner-up Yendi Phillips on Phillips’ YouTube show Odyssey.
In the video that has so far garnered almost 55,000 views, Fraser-Pryce revealed that when she joined MVP Track Club, she was still not certain that a career in track and field is what she wanted to pursue.
Even when she was selected to be a member of the Jamaican team, she was still uncertain that this was her path in life.
“I only wanted to go, to go. I was so nervous. I was unsure of who I was at the time…still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do,” she said.
“If anybody had asked me at the time what I wanted to do, I wouldn’t say an athlete. It was just there; an opportunity.”
Her indecision about what path she wanted to follow manifested in how she trained during those early days.
“I got to training late most days, didn’t go to the gym because me did believe me was a go get tough. I went to practise and never completed the workouts. That changed when I went to the World Championships,” she said.
However, before the change occurred, Osaka proved to be quite difficult for the then 19-year-old upstart from Wolmer’s Girls. In Japan, she was a member of Jamaica’s 4x100m relay team that won the silver medal that year.
However, when she was told that she was running she said she cried because she didn’t want to run. The occasion also unsettled her.
“Separate and apart from that you’re thinking that this is a big thing and I didn’t want to mess it up,” she said.
History will recall that she did not mess things up. Instead, a new reality dawned on her.
“I think what it did for me was that I saw something different. It is almost as if my eyes opened up to a reality that ‘them people ya wuk hard, you nuh’. You see the grit, the glory, you see defeat, you see so many different things, emotions, people crying when they crossed the line.”
It wasn’t all bad though. There were great benefits to being a member of a medal-winning team.
She remembers sitting in the stands cheering teammate Veronica Campbell chasing down the USA’s Tori Edwards but just coming up short at the line. The USA won gold in 41.98 while Jamaica was a mere 0.03s behind in 42.01. Belgium was third.
She happy for what was her first medal but also because “Me inna di money,” she said laughing.
As a member of the relay squad, Fraser-Pryce collected her share of US$40,000.
Many pundits and fans alike have predicted a clean sweep of the medals for the women in the 100m, by no means a stretch with the Jamaican trio of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Elaine Thompson-Herah and Shericka Jackson having run the fastest times this year.
Two-time winner of the event Fraser-Pryce leads the way with her time of 10.63, which is the second-fastest ever run over the distance. Reigning Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah is next, having run her best of 10.71 last week.
Finally, is Jackson, whose 10.77 puts her in elite company and is the third-fastest time, per athlete, this year. American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson has gone faster than Jackson this year, with a best of 10.72, but will miss out on the Games after testing positive for marijuana.
Some believe the 200m could provide a similar result but that event looks like a different kettle of fish entirely. Six women have run below 22 seconds this year. The list is led by the USA’s Gabrielle Thomas, who clocked 21.61 last month, the second-fastest time ever recorded over the distance. Fraser-Pryce (21.79) and Jackson (21.82) are next on the list but Jeanna Prandini (21.89), Anavia Battle (21.95), and Tamara Clark (21.98) have also achieved the feat.
Reigning Olympic champion Thompson (22.02) is seventh on the list with World Champion Dina Asher-Smith (22.08) and Shaunae MIiller-Uibo (22.03) certain to be in contention.
“All of these women have run below 22 seconds, five of them this year. Who will win, nobody has a clear picture of that,” Levy said on this week’s episode.
"You can’t discount 21.61 and even though I don’t see Gabby Thomas running another personal best in Toyko, even if she doesn’t, she’ll be good enough to be on the podium,” he added.
“When we factor in Miller-Uibo’s personal best of 21.74, coupled with her 47.38 capability in the 400m, it’s hard to imagine her not being on the podium either. That leaves one spot and we have not mentioned any of the Jamaicans yet.”
JOA President, Christopher Samuda, and JOA Secretary General/CEO, Ryan Foster, who both hail from the prominent Marescaux Road educational institution, Wolmer's Boys' School, welcomed their "sistren' Shelly-Ann, who attended Wolmer's Girls' School, and was on a doctor's visit to Birmingham.
The Commonwealth Manor in Birmingham is the second edition of the current administration of the JOA, the first having been held at the snazzy and popular Helm Bar in the Gold Coast, Australia, where the 2018 Games took place.
Shelly-Ann said "yes this is Wolmer's" in an evident show of scholastic camaraderie as she identified with the governors of JOA.
Samuda, in embracing the collegiate and national spirit, stated: "We are Wolmerians, the maroon and gold champions, and black, green and gold patriots" while Foster, inspired by the enviable history of his alma mater, was moved to say "changemakers and innovators we are and servant leaders we will always be"
The lifetime best 200m time also moved her above Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas as the best active combination sprinter in history by virtue of her times of 10.76 in the 100m, 21.55 and 49.47 in the 400m.
Only East Germany’s Marita Koch (10.83/21.71/47.60), Griffith-Joyner (10.49/21.34/50.89) and Marion Jones (10.65/21.62/49.59) are ranked higher than the affable Jamaica sprinter, who revealed that the jaw-dropping run on Sunday that left Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah (22.05) and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (22.140 trailing in her wake, was the result of a lot of hard work.
“I have been working really hard on running the curve. I wanted to do that and I know that once I ran that curve and execute properly, just to relax down the home stretch, I knew I would have run fast but this fast I never expected it but I am grateful,” she said afterwards.
The bad news for the rest of the world is that Jackson believes she has even more speed in those powerful legs of hers, the speed that the world is likely to see at the World Athletics Championships that begin in Eugene, Oregon on July 15.
“The curve is one of the things I want to master. I think I did pretty good tonight. So many mistakes made so I know definitely coach will correct them,” she said.
“I never wanted to put any pressure on myself. People out there will put pressure but listening to my coach, execute properly, I know I can go faster.”
On Saturday, the 33-year-old track legend, won her 100m heat in a world-leading 10.87s, just 0.01 faster than Elaine Thompson-Herah, who ran in another heat. Then on Sunday, eight-years and a day since she won an Olympic 200m silver medal in London, the four-time World 100m champion, won her 200-metre heat in 22.57.
On Sunday, it was the fifth-fastest time in the world and second fastest on the day behind Thompson-Herah’s 22.19.
However, 20-year-old American sprint sensation Sha’Carri Richardson ran a personal best 22.00 at the Star Athletics Sprint Showcase in Monteverde, bumping Thompson-Herah down to third and Fraser-Pryce to sixth.
Nonetheless, Fraser-Pryce said the weekend performances was a good benchmark heading into what could be her penultimate season when she also plans to run a lot more half-lap sprints.
“Considering how the season is going I am pleased with the effort over the weekend,” she told Sportsmax.TV on Monday. “(It) definitely has given me something to hold onto this season and heading in the next season. More 200s for sure.”
Fraser-Pryce has a 200m gold medal from the 2013 World Championships in Moscow. At the 2012 London Olympics, she ran personal best 22.09s.
Shericka Jackson was second in 10.88 while Marie Josee Ta Lou of the Ivory Coast was third in 10.89 in a blanket finish.
"I feel good about the race, I´m a little disappointed with the time but that's how it is," Jackson said afterwards.
"I think my start was poor and that affected my overall time but it's just something I´ll continue to work on."
Jamaica’s big three were expected to feature in the much-anticipated clash at the site where Fraser-Pryce ran a lifetime best 10.60 in 2021.
However, the 35-year-old Fraser-Pryce, who had run six times under 10.70 so far this season, suffered a hamstring strain during warm-ups and withdrew from the race.
Elaine Thompson-Herah, who was taking the track for the first time since he sprint-double victory at the Commonwealth Games, was disqualified after a false start.
The Olympic champion’s mental lapse might have been triggered by Shericka Jackson, who left the blocks early during the previous attempt to start and received a yellow card as a result.
Jackson was clearly unsettled by the time the race finally got underway. She got off to a poor start but managed to storm back to claim a place on the podium.
Based on the entry list, the race could feature a clash between 100m World champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, 200m World champion Shericka Jackson and flamboyant young American sprinter Sha ‘Carri Richardson.
It remains to be seen, though, whether Fraser-Pryce, who has dominated the event so far this season, will face the starter. The sprinter, who has run below 10.7s on six occasions this season, pulled out of last week’s Lausanne Diamond League meet with a tight hamstring.
In her absence, the race was won by the United States Aleia Hobbs who surprised World championship silver medalist Jackson. Some attention for the race will also be turned to Richardson who has had a poor season to date but did managed to secure a narrow win over Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah at the Luzern World Athletics Continental Tour-Silver Meet in Switzerland on Tuesday.
On Saturday, it was a familiar sight as the Jamaican coasted to the line in a time of 10.72, fast by any standards, except perhaps her own recent lofty achievements.
Thompson-Herah clocked 10.61 to claim the 100m at the Olympics, but it was a 10.54 clocking two weeks later that set tongues really wagging as the mark was just 0.5 seconds outside of the American’s immortal time. For now, however, the Jamaican is happy to be healthy and more than content with her achievements so far.
“I am thankful I crossed the line healthy. I am already in the books, so I am happy about that. I am just focusing on myself - on my start, on my execution and to be confident,” Thompson-Herah said.
“Obviously, it is more about the time after all these events and my health always comes first. I know everybody is thinking I am targeting the world record, and... I know it is close but for this season I am already super happy."
At the Lausanne Diamond League on Thursday, Thompson-Herah finished second in 10.64, an unfamiliar position in recent weeks but it was her decorated compatriot Fraser-Pryce who clocked a new personal best 10.60 for first place. For her part, she believes it would have been nice to have her compatriot and fiercest competitor in Paris.
"It is a pity that she is not here, because we push each other to be better. She is the only athlete on the planet who can approach 10.5,” Thompson said ahead of the race.
The two-time Olympic champion, who now has another year to prepare for the Olympics, is making good use of her downtime now that the 2020 Tokyo Games have been postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The government of Jamaica has shut down the island’s schools in a bid to protect students, their parents and teachers from the deadly virus that has infected more than half-a-million people around the world, killing more than 22,000 of them.
Some of these students might have been in need and this reality was not lost on the Jamaican sprint queen who through her foundation, has reached out to them.
She posted this on her Facebook page on Thursday:
“As schools remain closed, SFP through her Pocket Rocket Foundation is extending a helping hand to our 18 student-athletes currently on academic scholarships.
Thirty-six (36) care packages, packed with basic food items and just enough snacks to help them weather the current crisis. Each scholarship recipient will receive two shopping bags. “We even topped it off with $600 phone credit per student-athlete courtesy of Digicel.”
The recipients included Shemar Willis, Rajiv Redhi, Jevaughn Blake, Danielle Kent, Liana Campbell, Omarion Davis, Delojauntae Henry, Rashane Bartlett, Aleisha Robinson, Sherene Williams, Daniel Binns, Giana Lewis, Shanae Blake, Dominique Clarke, Julianna Mederios, Akalia Barnes, Abigail McIntosh and Atena Rayson.
The gesture is even more incredible considering how disappointed she must be that the Olympic Games that were set for July 24-August 9 would have presented her with the chance to win three Olympic 100m gold medals and become the first-ever female sprinter to accomplish that feat.
She would have no doubt gone into the Olympics as a strong favourite after she won an unprecedented fourth 100m title at the 2019 World Championships in Doha last September.
In a publication, World Athletics stated that the series is "aptly named JOA/JAAA ‘Olympic Destiny’. The Washington Post newspaper in the United States also had the event on its radar with a report on the explosive world-leading 10.63 performance of sprint queen Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in the 100 metres.
Performances during the series were also captured in traditional and new media entities worldwide.
Although only in its first year, ‘Olympic Destiny’ has already earned a reputation locally and internationally as a standard-bearer in track and field, which the JOA and its member association, the JAAA, intend to guard jealously.
Contemplating current health challenges and risks and looking to the future, President of the JOA, Christopher Samuda, in a post-event interview, stated that, "Olympic Destiny gave athletes a new and inspired lease on life amidst the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic and the national senior trials will be the 'Olympic Verdict' as athletes vie for coveted places at the pinnacle multi-sport the Olympic Games”.
The description, ‘Olympic Verdict’, of the national senior trials, is on point as several events, including the 100m, 200m, 110m hurdles and the triple jump for both men and women, as well as the discus for men, are expected to be competitive and showstoppers.
Secretary-General and CEO of the JOA, Ryan Foster, in anticipating keen contests, remarked that "on D-day at the national senior trials, diplomacy will somewhat give way to assertive rivalry for at the end of it all there will be one verdict, which performances will deliver.”
This year's national senior trials between June 24 and 27 at the National Stadium is indeed the ‘Olympic Verdict’ as "emerging generations will meet experienced campaigners in a decider that will be healthy for the sport, thrilling for the fans and ensure succession," Foster said.
The jury will certainly not be out where the staging of future Destiny series is concerned as the JOA intends to roll out ‘Olympic Destiny’ in 2022 and beyond in athletics and other sports.
"Olympic Destiny is now a staple on the calendar as we have earmarked the summer and winter Games as dramatic watershed events of exciting times ahead of us,'' Samuda declared.
If the significant turnout of athletes and the notable performances are anything to go by, the ‘Olympic Destiny’ Series will become not only a local product of Olympism but an international asset.
It depends on who you ask.
For many Americans, the late flamboyant American woman who holds the world record in both 100 and 200m, and also won three gold medals at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, is the one. Outside the US, the answer is not as clear as many believe that a certain Jamaican, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and four-time world champion, is in fact the greatest.
This week, Olympian turned coach and broadcaster Ato Boldon might have changed one iconic American’s mind about who is truly the greatest female sprinter of all time.
During his Athletics Live interview on Instagram with Flo-Jo's best friend and two-time Olympic 100m champion Gail Devers on Wednesday, Boldon asked Devers, who she thought was the greatest female sprinter. It was a question posed by a viewer.
‘I’ve got to go with the world-record holder,” said Devers matter-of-factly, after a brief pause.
Boldon, a big fan of Griffith-Joyner, replied: “I get into trouble with that because I have to broadcast with my head and not my heart. I can’t have any allegiance and I look at what Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce has done. Two gold medals and a bronze in back-to-back-to-back; the four world titles, more than anybody else, male or female. I know she doesn’t have the world record, obviously, but if you go ‘Tom Brady is the greatest or (basketball legend) Bill Russell or whoever is the greatest; it’s based on the championships,” Boldon opined while Devers nodded in agreement.
Boldon, who like Griffith-Joyner attended UCLA and admitted that he worshipped the ground she walked on, also reasoned that Flo-Jo only had one great season when she set world records in both the 100m and 200m and then went to the Olympics and won the sprint double and the 4x100m relay and picked up a silver behind Russia in the 4x400m.
“Yes, it was the greatest year ever, but it was the one year,” he said.
Devers then responded saying “I get what you’re saying” but Boldon continued to reinforce his point pointing out that if anyone asked Mike Powell, who has held the long jump world record for 30 years now, who is the greatest long jumper, he would say Carl Lewis “without even thinking about it.”
Lewis won long jump gold in four consecutive Olympic Games – 1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996.
But the Trinidadian was not done. He added that most people would never consider Wayde van Niekerk, the 400m world record holder, the greatest 400m runner of all time over Michael Johnson.
“You have to apply the rules the same way,” Boldon said. “Most world record holders aren’t necessarily the greatest.”
Confronted by the veracity of the points Boldon made, Devers relented.
“You’re right, you’re right,” she agreed. “It’s as you said, it’s the consistency, it’s how many titles, can they come back-to-back. I have to give some second thought to that. You’re right.”
