Photo credit: Citizen59
“I’ve wrestled with alligators / I’ve tussled with a whale / I done handcuffed lightening / and throw thunder in jail / You know I’m bad, just last week I murdered a rock / Injured a stone, hospitalized a brick / I’m so mean, I make medicine sick” — Muhammad Ali.
The quote in the foregoing is that of the world’s greatest boxing legend Muhammed Ali, but it could have very well come from the lips of Jamaica’s double Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah.
And in the words of former pop star Michael Jackson — she could now say, “I am bad!”
Thompson-Herah turned up the heat at the Prefontaine Classic, Wanda Diamond League meet in Eugene, Oregon, on Saturday to confirm her status as one of the world’s greatest track athletes.
The Jamaican was in a no-nonsense mood when she easily dismissed a top-quality field to stop the clock at 10.54, just .05 second outside of the world record set by the United States’ Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988 and bettering her personal best time set at the recently held Olympic Tokyo Games.
Her compatriots Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson also played second fiddle at the meet, placing second and third, respectively.
The American upstart and flamboyant sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson who failed to make it to the Tokyo Olympics because of a 30-day ban after testing positive for a chemical found in marijuana after her victory in the 100-meter finals at the Olympic trials on June 19, got the opportunity to match her skills against some of the Olympic athletes.
However, the American sprinter did not live up to expectations and bombed-out last, running a slow time of 11.14.
In a post-race interview with NBC, Richardson said, “It was a great return back to the sport.”
She said further, “I wanted to be able to come and perform having a month off. … Not upset at myself at all. This is one race. I’m not done. You know what I’m capable of.”
“Count me out if you want to. Talk all the s— you want, ’cause I’m here to stay. I’m not done. I’m the sixth-fastest woman in this game, ever. And can’t nobody ever take that from me. Congratulations to the winners. Congratulations to the people that won, but they’re not done seeing me yet. Period,” she added.
The fact of the matter is that Thompson-Herah had the last say, and fans will continue to expect great things from her going forward.
Readers Bureau, Contributor
Edited by Jesus Chan
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