Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica after the women's 100m during the 2024 USATF NYC Grand Prix on June 9, 2024 in New York City. Thompson-Hera confirmed in a statement Wednesday she wil not defend her titles at next month's Paris Games due to injury. (Getty Images via AFP)
Elaine Thompson-Herah, a five-time Olympic gold medalist in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m, will skip the Paris Games.
The 31-year-old Jamaican had planned to defend her Olympic 100m and 200m championships from Rio and Tokyo, but will now watch from the sidelines.
Thompson-Herah, the only sprinter other than Usain Bolt to have won multiple Olympic 100m and 200m gold medals, withdrew from this weekend’s Jamaican trials owing to a minor tear in her Achilles tendon.
Thompson-Herah got the injury at the New York Grand Prix on June 9, where he finished ninth in the 100m in 11.48 (-2.1) and was helped off the course afterward.
On Instagram, the Jamaican revealed that prior to the line, she “realised something was wrong” and “I couldn’t apply any pressure to the leg whatsoever”.
“I returned home with a tremendous will to keep pushing and prepare for my national trials. “I wanted to compete in my third Olympics, but my leg wouldn’t let me,” Thompson-Herah explained.
“It’s a long path, but I’m willing to start anew, keep working, fully recover, and resume my track career. I’m disappointed and devastated to miss the Olympics this year, but at the end of the day, it’s sport, and my health comes first.
“This wasn’t the birthday gift I was looking for, but whatever God has in store for me, I will wait and continue to strive toward the goals I haven’t yet reached. I’ll be cheering on my country, Jamaica, from the stands. “I will be back!”
Jamaican women have dominated Olympic sprinting in recent years. Since Athens 2004, only Allyson Felix, who won the 200m in London in 2012, has kept Jamaica from topping an individual sprints podium.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce won the Olympic 100m gold medals in Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012, while Veronica Campbell-Brown won the 200m championship in Athens in 2004 and defended it four years later in Beijing.
Thompson-Herah and Fraser-Pryce have also shared the Olympic podium twice, winning silver in the 4x100m relay at Rio 2016 and gold in Tokyo 2020.
With Thompson-Herah’s absence from Paris, Jamaica’s gold medal aspirations will now rest on Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson.
The Jamaican Olympic trials will take place from June 27 to June 30 in Kingston.
