‘I could have run 10.5s’: Elaine Thompson-Herah admits regret over Olympic 100m final finish
The Jamaican became the second fastest woman in history as she defended her 100m crown in Tokyo
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Your support makes all the difference.Elaine Thompson-Herah admitted she regrets celebrating before reaching the line in the women’s 100m final at the Olympics this summer after narrowly missing out on breaking the world record.
Thompson-Herah maintained her dominance over women’s sprinting, retaining both the 100m and 200m crowns in Tokyo, and finished just 0.12 seconds shy of Florence Griffith Joyner’s record of 10.49s.
A heavy pre-race favourite, Thompson-Herah stormed away from compatriots Shelly-Ann Fraser-Price and Shericka Jackson and raised her arms in celebration as she closed in on victory rather than pushing towards the line.
“I could have run 10.5, if I was not celebrating. I didn’t realise I’d done the pointing. I think my body knew I wanted to win so badly,” she told BBC Radio 5 Live’s All About podcast.
“If I could run it back over, I would run straight to the line. That is the thing I could fix - the start was great, the transition was great, just that last 10 metres.”
Despite becoming the first woman to complete an Olympic double-double in the 100m and 200m, Thompson-Herah also revealed that she suffered from a bout of nerves before the race.
“I was super nervous, more than normal,” she said. “I felt like I was going to explode. I could not wait to get into my blocks and just run.
“But first they turned off all the lights in the stadium and started to introduce all the finalists. They introduced lane two and then lane three, but then, instead of me in lane four, they skipped me and went to lane nine.
“I didn’t know why. In the end, they left me for last. Then there was two seconds of silence and we were called to our marks.
“I told myself I cannot change anything or fix anything. One last breath and that was it.”
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