Streaking down the track, with only six steps to go until she reached the finish line, Elaine Thompson-Herah stuck out her left arm and …
Streaking down the track, with only six steps to go until she reached the finish line, Elaine Thompson-Herah stuck out her left arm and started pointing at the clock. She knew she had the win. It was only a matter of what else would come with it. With a time of 10.61 seconds, the latest in a long string of Jamaican speed stars defended her Olympic title in the 100 meters Saturday. She broke a 33-year-old Olympic record held by none other than Florence Griffith Joyner. And, as a more-than-fitting bonus, she revisited a debate first triggered by the fastest Jamaican of all — Usain Bolt. Yes, the gold medal and Flo Jo’s venerable record were great. But the question could not be avoided: Just as people wondered what Bolt might have given up when he hotdogged his way to the finish line in his first Olympic victory in 2008, how much faster might Thompson-Herah have gone had she run hard for 100 meters, not just 90 or 95? « I think I could have gone faster if I wasn’t pointing and celebrating, really, » she said. « But to show you that there’s more in store. Hopefully, one day I can unleash that time. » As it was, she finished the night as the second-fastest woman in history. Flo Jo’s world record of 10.49 is the only mark left to beat. As it was, she beat a two-time Olympic champion, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, and joined bronze medalist Shericka Jackson in the first Jamaican podium sweep at the Olympics since 2008. « The legacy we have in Jamaica is incredible, » Fraser-Pryce said. Yet, with all that swirling around, it felt more than fitting that Thompson-Herah was drawing comparisons to Bolt, who redefined the sprint game with his antics, to say nothing of his speed, and left a hole in track and field after he left the Olympic scene in 2016 with nine victories in nine sprints. In the first win, the 6-foot-5 speedster was well clear of the field in Beijing when he brought his hands out to his sides and started his celebration before he reached the finish line. His time,9.69, was a world record. But the world went crazy — even then-IOC President Jacques Rogge leveled a sharp critique of the move — wondering what might have been had Bolt busted it through the line.
