Tokyo 2020: Elaine Thompson-Herah won the 200 meters and is the queen of speed

08/03/2021 10:35

• Clarín.com

• sports

Updated 08/03/2021 10:53

As she had done on Saturday in the 100 meters final, the Jamaican Elaine Thompson-Herah flew in the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, took the gold medal in the 200 meters test, repeated the double that she had achieved in Rio de Janeiro 2016 and confirmed that she is the fastest woman on the planet.

Despite being the slowest of the eight finalists in the game (her reaction time was 0.173 seconds), Thompson-Herah, who in the semifinal had equaled her best career record in this distance (21.66), took the control of the test before the exit of the curve and ended up prevailing comfortably with a time of 21.53.

This record, 19 hundredths higher than the Olympic and world record that Florence Griffith Joyner set in Seoul 1988, not only allowed the Jamaican to improve her record, but also to set a new record for her country and achieve her fourth Olympic gold and fifth medal ( he also obtained the silver medal at the 4x100 meter post in Rio de Janeiro).

Elaine Thompson-Herah takes the lead out of the curve at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium.

(Photo: Francisco Seco / AP)

The escort of the winner was one of the great surprises of the day, the young Namibian Christine Mboma, barely 18 years old, who came back after a poor start and in the last 50 meters jumped from fifth place to second and also broke the world record sub-20 (21.81).

Mboma has been running the 200 meters for just two months, after being unable to compete in the 400 meters due to the regulation on hyperandrogenism, which forces affected athletes to lower their testosterone with a treatment to be able to compete in distances ranging from 400 to 1,500 meters.

Third was the American Gabrielle Thomas, who relegated the Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce.

The charismatic 34-year-old Caribbean athlete had finished second in the 100 meters and this time she was off the podium.

Elaine Thompson-Herah with her bodyguards, the Namibian Christine Mboma (right) and the American Gabrielle Thomas (left).

(Photo: Charlie Riedel / AP)

Born 29 years ago on Banana Ground, in the parish of Manchester, one of the most deprived areas of her country, Thompson-Herah came under the care of her grandmother Gloria when she was only seven months old, began running in secondary school and gave the quality jump when he began working with Stephen Francis, the coach who also launched Fraser Pryce to stardom.

The multi-champion will have the chance to continue adding medals for herself and for her country in the 4x100 post, which on Wednesday night will play her qualifying series at the Olympic Stadium.

The final will be on Friday at 10.30.

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