Elaine Thompson

Elaine Thompson

Elaine Thompson celebrating her silver medal at the 2015 World Championships
Personal information
Born	(1992-06-28) 28 June 1992 (age 24) Manchester, Jamaica
Height	1.67 m (5 ft 5 1⁄2 in)
Weight	57 kg (126 lb)
Sport
Country	Jamaica
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	100 metres 200 metres 4×100 m relay
College team	UTech
Club	MVP Track Club
Coached by	Stephen Francis
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	60m: 6.98 100m: 10.70 NR 200m: 21.66
Medal record Olympic Games 2016 Rio de Janeiro 100 m 2016 Rio de Janeiro 200 m 2016 Rio de Janeiro 4×100 m relay World Championships 2015 Beijing 4×100 m relay 2015 Beijing 200 m World Indoor Championships 2016 Portland 60 m

Elaine Thompson (born 28 June 1992) is a Jamaican track and field sprinter. She rose to prominence as part of the gold medal-winning team in the 4x100 metres relay at the 2015 World Championships, where she also won a silver medal in the 200 metres. At the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Thompson completed a rare sprint double when she won gold in the 100m (with a time of 10.71 s) and the 200m (21.78 s), becoming the first female sprinter to do so since Florence Griffith Joyner at the Seoul Olympics in 1988. Thompson currently ranks as the fifth-fastest woman ever in the 200 metres event and tied fourth-fastest in the 100 metres.

Thompson is a native of Banana Ground in Manchester Parish, Jamaica. Running for Christiana High School and later Manchester High School, Thompson was a good but not outstanding scholastic sprinter; her best result at the Jamaican Boys and Girls Championships came in 2009, when she placed fourth in the Class Two 100 metres in 12.01. In 2011, her final year at Manchester High, she was left off the track team for disciplinary reasons.

After high school, she was recruited to the University of Technology, Jamaica by Paul Francis, brother of MVP Track Club head coach Stephen Francis. With MVP coaching, Thompson's times started improving steadily. In 2013, she clocked a season best of 11.41 at the Gibson Relays and placed second behind Carrie Russell at the Jamaican Intercollegiate Championships; at the 2013 Central American and Caribbean Championships in Morelia she won gold in the 4 × 100 metres relay, running the first leg on the Jamaican team as it won in 43.58. In 2014 Thompson won her first intercollegiate title, placed fifth in 11.26 at the national championships and had a season best of 11.17. She represented Jamaica at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, running in the 4 × 100 m relay heats; Jamaica won their heat in 42.44, and went on to win gold in the final with Thompson not in the line-up.