RIO DE JANEIRO – Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson last night became the first woman in 28 years to win the 100m and 200m at the same Olympic Games.Three days after winning the century sprint, Thompson took 200m gold in 21.78 seconds.
The 24-year-old was 0.4sec ahead of silver medallist Daphne Schippers of the Netherlands. American Tori Bowie won bronze (22.15sec) at the Olympic Stadium.
Thompson is the seventh woman to complete the sprint double at sport’s greatest stage.
World record holder Florence Griffith Joyner of the United States was the last woman to achieve this at the 1988 Seoul Games.
Dutch Fanny Blankers-Koen (1948), Australians Marjorie Jackson (1952) and Betty Cuthbert (1956), American Wilma Rudolph (1960) and East German Renate Stecher (1972) were the others that accomplished the feat.
World champion Schippers, hampered by a muscle problem when she finished fifth in the 100m, failed to live up to her status as favourite.