TOKYO (AFP, REUTERS) – Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah made Olympic history here on Tuesday (Aug 3), blazing to victory in the 200m to complete an unprecedented women’s sprinting “double-double”.
Thompson, the 2016 Olympics 100m and 200m gold medallist who successfully defended her 100m title on Saturday, bagged a record fourth individual gold after storming home in 21.53sec, the second-fastest time in history.
Namibia’s Christine Mboma took silver in 21.81sec while the USA’s Gabby Thomas took bronze in 21.87sec.
The 29-year-old Thompson-Herah’s time was the second fastest in history after Florence Griffith Joyner’s world record of 21.34sec set at the 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.
Thompson-Herah got off to a blistering start, building a lead off the bend which she never relinquished.
It looked as if Thomas and Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce would take the silver and bronze, but that duo were passed by a scorching finish over the final 20 metres from Namibian teenager Mboma who plundered silver.
Meanwhile, teenager Athing Mu became the first American woman to win the Olympic 800m crown in more than half-a-century on Tuesday (Aug 8), producing a superb display of front-running to win the gold.
The 19-year-old prodigy from New Jersey, who only turned professional in June after a successful college career, led from start to finish to win in a new US national record of 1min 55.21sec.
Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson – another 19-year-old – took silver in 1:55.88 while Raevyn Rogers of the United States took bronze in 1:56.81.
Mu, whose parents moved to the United States after fleeing civil war in Sudan, is the first American woman to win the Olympic 800m title since Madeline Manning won gold at the 1968 Mexico City Games.
It was a remarkable display from Mu, showing a confidence and maturity that belied her relative inexperience in top level track and field.
Drawn in lane three, Mu glided into the lead before the 200m mark and never looked back, clocking a brisk 57.82sec first lap.
She then cranked up the pace in the closing 200 metres, pulling away from the field to cross the line with a comfortable margin of victory from the fast-finishing Hodgkinson.
This year’s Olympic 800m took place in the absence of 2012 and 2016 gold medallist Caster Semenya of South Africa. Semenya has barred from competing over 800m by World Athletics’ testosterone-reducing regulations.
In the women’s hammer throw, Poland’s Anita Wlodarczyk won a third straight Olympic gold, dominating the final and further cementing her status as the greatest of all time in the event.
The world record holder chucked her first attempt into the net but recovered for her best performance of the season, launching the hammer 78.48m in the fourth round to become the first woman to win an individual Olympic athletics event three times in a row.
China’s Wang Zheng took the silver on her final throw of 77.03m and Poland’s Malwina Kopron finished with the bronze.
American DeAnna Price, the 2019 world champion and podium favourite after producing the best throw of 2021 in June, could not find her power during the final, finishing eighth overall.
In the men’s pole vault, world record holder Mondo Duplantis of Sweden won the gold medal after clearing a height of 6.02m on his first effort.
The 21-year-old Duplantis, who finished with a silver medal behind world champion Sam Kendricks of the United States in 2019, remained the only man to fly over six metres this year.
American Chris Nilsen cleared the bar at 5.97m with his first attempt but could not match Duplantis and picked up the silver medal.
Brazil’s Thiago Braz, who won the title at his home Olympics in Rio de Janeiro five years ago, took bronze with his effort of 5.87m.
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