In Paris, Jamaican sprinters backslide in Olympic track rivalry with U.S.

By Emma Bowman

Published August 10, 2024 at 6:45 AM EDT

Members of Jamaica's men's 4x100-meter relay team react following their heat at the Paris Olympics on Thursday, in Saint-Denis, France.

SAINT-DENIS, France — Notably absent from the men’s 4x100-meter Olympic relay medal race on Friday were the Jamaicans.

Even after putting up a season-best time in the qualifying round, the team of Ackeem Blake, Jelani Walker, Jehlani Gordon and Kishane Thompson failed to make the cut by 0.06 seconds for an event in which their country has held the world and Olympic record for 12 years.

The mystifying absence of the sprinting powerhouse in the fastest track events has emerged as a theme at the Paris Olympics.

As the U.S. continued to dominate in track and field competitions this week – with Noah Lyles, Sha’Carri Richardson and Gabby Thomas -- all going home with at least one gold (and more) -- the American-Jamaican Olympic sprinting rivalry has all but fizzled.

Historically, short-distances have been the U.S. domain. That changed at the Beijing Games 2008, when Jamaican superstar Usain Bolt collected world records and gold in the 100- and 200-meter sprints. That same Olympics, Jamaicans Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Veronica Campbell-Brown won gold in the women’s 100- and 200-meter races.

The U.S.'s Noah Lyles (L) crosses the finish line just ahead of Jamaica's Kishane Thompson (2R), USA's Fred Kerley (R), South Africa's Akani Simbine (C) and Jamaica's Oblique Seville (2L) in the men's 100m final of the athletics event Sunday at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

In Paris this week, Kishane Thompson — who ran the fastest 100-meter time this year — did medal for Jamaica, having placed silver in the photo finish that led to American Noah Lyles’ gold in the 100-meter dash. But that was the closest the country has come so far on the Stade de France track in holding down their sprinting legacy.

In the women’s 100-meter competition, no Jamaican made the podium — the first time that’s happened in an Olympics since 1988. Paris also marks the first Olympics since 1976 that a Jamaican woman hasn’t medaled in the 200-meter race.

And on Friday, Jamaica failed to nail its last chance to shine in the women's 4x100 relay final when it finished in fifth place, even having pulled off a season-best time. Although the relay team had been in the running to medal, the team had lost its reigning female stars on the road to Paris.

The first setback came when Elaine Thompson-Herah said an Achilles injury would force her to miss Paris, meaning the five-time gold medalist couldn’t defend her 100- and 200-meter titles.

Then, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson dropped out of the 100-meter and 200-meter races, citing injury. The two sprint stars (along with Thompson-Herah) had captured a podium sweep in the women's 100m final at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021).