Elaine Thompson Biography

Jamaican sprinter Elaine Thompson is one of the fastest women in the world. She is a world champion in the 100 meters (10.70 seconds in 2016) and 200 meters (21.66 seconds in 2015) and won both races in the 2016 Olympics.

Only a so-so racer in high school, Elaine Thompson improved greatly while at the University of Technology, Jamaica. By 2014 she was winning races, and in 2015 she broke out internationally as one of the fastest women in the world, running the 100-meter race in 10.92 — her first time under 11 seconds.

At the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, she won gold in the sprints at 100 meters and 200 meters. The feat made her the first Jamaican woman to win both the 100 meters and 200 meters in one Olympics. Her countryman Usain Bolt also won at 100 and 200 meters at Rio, bringing Jamaica a clean sweep in both female and male divisions of the classic sprints.