'Can't believe it': Sprint queens kicked off podium in staggering scenes at Olympics (2024)

The track athletics events at the Olympics always seem to be littered with Jamaican gold medallists, but Tuesday night marked an extraordinary development not seen in 48 years. For the first time since the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, not a single Jamaican woman made the podium in either of the 100m or 200m events in Paris.

American Gabby Thomas grabbed the gold in the 200m on Tuesday night, with Julien Alfred (St Lucia) taking silver and Brittany Brown (USA) the bronze. It came after Alfred won gold in the 100m ahead of Americans Sha'Carri Richardson and Melissa Jefferson.

It effectively completed the downfall of Jamaican sprint queens Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson, who rounded out the whole podium for the 100m at the Tokyo Olympics just three years ago. Thompson-Herah also won gold in the 200m in 2021, but missed the Paris Games due to an Achilles injury.

All three of Thompson-Herah, Fraser-Pryce and Jackson are in their 30s, and there's likely to be a huge changing of the guard for the Jamaicans by the time the next Olympics roll around in LA in four years. Jackson had been hoping to run in the 200m in Paris, but was a last-minute withdrawal due to injury.

And Fraser-Pryce was supposed to take part in the 100m before a mysterious withdrawal just minutes before her semi-final. The Jamaican Olympic team put Fraser-Pryce's withdrawal down to injury as well, but it came after controversy erupted when she was denied entry into the stadium because she arrived in a private car.

Video emerged on social media of Fraser-Pryce being denied access to a gate she'd entered the day before, after officials reportedly changed the rules around athletes not staying in the village. The change meant athletes arriving in private cars rather than team buses had to enter at another location.

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Kishane Thompson grabbed silver in the men's 100m event, and was narrowly pipped for the gold. But there hasn't been much to celebrate for Jamaica in Paris, and there's a sense it could be years - rather than days - until the success starts rolling in again.

Jamaica leaving Paris Olympics with little athletics success

In a twist nobody could have predicted, Jamaica actually had more medals from field events (two) than on the track at the midway point of the athletics program. “I know the world is used to Jamaica winning, and Jamaica always celebrating,” said Asafa Powell, who held or shared the 100m world record for nearly three years before Usain Bolt broke it in 2008. “But believe me, it's going to happen again.”

Jamaica won 15 of the 24 medals on offer in the women's 100m and 200m between the 2008 and 2021 Olympics, but will go home with none this time around. It marks the first time since 1976 the Caribbean island nation hasn't won a women's medal in either of those events. “I think people appreciate us more when they see a down period like this,” said Powell.

However there is certainly hope. Tia Clayton is only 19 and finished seventh in the 100 final, whiole 28-year-old Shashalee Forbes finished sixth in the 100 semis. Niesha Burgher (21) who came fifth in the 200m semis.

“It’s a very young team,” said 23-year-old Lanae Tava-Thomas, who also finished fifth in her 200m semi. “We definitely have time to develop. It’s going to be a very strong team when we get actually fully developed.”

with agencies