After months of debate about who will win the most anticipated race at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, Elaine Thompson-Herah answered the questions in emphatic fashion, clocking a new Olympic and National Record of 10.61 seconds to successfully retain her 100-metre title this morning. 

And with another 100-metre Olympic gold medal to her name, Thompson-Herah says she has nothing left to prove. 

“I accept this time that there is nothing left to prove. I have been through so much ups and downs, I was told that I am mental and I can’t win a medal but today, I have to give God thanks that I came out here and defended my title and I am happy with that,” Thompson-Herah said shortly after leading a Jamaican sweep of the medals.

“Last month this time I didn’t think I would stand here having retained my title and behind the smile and the Olympic record I was super nervous but I was there talking to myself saying you were here before and you have done this before, nothing changes. 

“The way I was celebrating from five metres out means that there is more to come,” she added.

Thompson-Herah lowered Florence Joyner’s 33-year-old Olympic record of 10.62 seconds and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce’s national record 10.63 seconds set earlier this year.

Fraser-Pryce, who was denied an unprecedented third 100m gold medal at her fourth Olympic Games, was second in 10.74s while Shericka Jackson was third with a new personal best 10.76s.

The trio completed Jamaica’s second-ever sweep at the Olympics after a 1-2-2 finish at the 2008 Games in Beijing, China. Then, it was Fraser-Pryce, Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart.

This was Thompson-Herah’s first medal since she won the double at the 2016 Games in Rio. She was fifth at the World Championships final in London in 2017 and fourth in the Doha 2019 final.

“This (win) is just the hard work that I have put in and there is nothing more that I could have changed. I had some good sessions and as I said there is nothing more I could have added in,” she noted.

“I put everything in the performance, one hundred per cent. I could have said I was super ready but I had to just hold my composure and just take it round by round and it shows tonight that Elaine didn’t go anywhere,” she added.

The 29-year-old will now shift her focus to the 200m where she says it will be the “same routine, step by step”.