Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah Wins Historic Olympic Sprint ‘Double-Double’ With 200m Victory
Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah has on Tuesday made Olympic history by becoming the first woman ever to win both 100m and 200m titles at successive Games, running the second fastest 200m time ever in the Tokyo 2020 final.
It would be recalled that Thompson-Herah, 2016 Olympics 100m and 200m gold medallist, had successfully defended her 100m title on Saturday.
She raced over the line at Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium in 10.61sec, with two-time countryman champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce taking silver in 10.74 and Shericka Jackson bronze in 10.76 sec.
In today’s race, the 29-year-old bagged a record fourth individual gold after storming home in 21.53sec, the second-fastest time in history after Florence Griffith Joyner‘s world record of 21.34sec set at drug-tarnished 1988 Seoul Olympics.
As well as becoming the first woman to claim a 100m-200m “double-double“, Thompson-Herah is the only female track and field athlete to win four individual Olympic golds.
Meanwhile, Namibia’s Christine Mboma took silver in 21.81sec while the USA’s Gabby Thomas took bronze in 21.87sec.
Thompson-Herah got off to a blistering start, building a lead off the bend which she never relinquished.
Initially, it looked as if Thomas and Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce would take the silver and bronze respectively, but that duo were passed by a scorching finish over the final 20 metres from 18-year-old Namibian Mboma who won the silver medal.
