Kingston, 3 August 2021 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has hailed the historic performance of Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah in the Olympic Games.

Thompson-Herah won the women’s 200 metres on Tuesday in Tokyo in 21.53 seconds, a new national record.

The Jamaican finished ahead of Christine Mboma of Namibia (21.81) and Gabriella Thomas of the USA (21.87).

The other Jamaican in the final, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, finished fourth in 21.94 seconds.

With today’s win, Thompson-Herah becomes the first woman to win both the 100 and 200 metres at separate Olympic Games after also taking the sprint double at Rio 2016.

Minister Grange said:
“Elaine is such an amazing athlete. It is such a pleasure to watch her run. All of Jamaica is proud of this new record that she has achieved — the only woman to successfully defend both the 100 and 200 metres at an Olympics. She is definitely one of the greats. And I’m so excited to see what else she will do, because I believe she has a lot more in her.

I also wish to congratulate Shelly-Ann on a very valiant effort. We continue to be proud of the way that Elaine, and Shelly-Ann, and Natoya, and all members of Team Jamaica are representing our country in Tokyo.”

Jamaica’s Natoya Goule finished 8th in the women’s 800 metres.

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