Life
| Jan 28, 2023

‘Who dat’? Jamaicans question Olympic legends tribute to Elaine Thompson-Herah

/ Our Today

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This tribute artwork of double-double Olympic gold medallist Elaine Thompson-Herah has left sections of Jamaican Twitter quite confused. (Photo: Twitter @Olympics)

Reigning Jamaican sprint queen Elaine Thompson-Herah on Friday (January 27) was celebrated as a ‘living legend’ by the verified Twitter page of The Olympics Games, but the artwork said to bear the likeness of the decorated athlete left many fans puzzled.

The tweet, which was also accompanied by archival footage of Thompson-Herah’s dominant performance at the Tokyo Games in 2021, praised the sportswoman for her impressive six gold-medal haul and the current title of fastest alive.

Not contesting the content of the tweet, several Jamaicans, including Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn—100m silver medalist in the 1992 Barcelona Summer Games—were of the view that the artwork held no resemblance to Thompson-Herah.

Others, going further, opined that the image was closer in facial features to Brianna Williams, who ran the opening leg of a brilliant gold-medal performance alongside Thompson-Herah, Shericka Jackson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in the women’s 4x100m final in Tokyo.

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(Photo: Twitter @julietcuthbert)

In a series of Instagram stories yesterday, however, Thompson-Herah seemed not to take the ‘likeness’ (or lack thereof) too seriously and was more than grateful for the rightly deserved recognition.

Today, Thompson-Herah will open her 2023 season at the Queen’s/Grace Jackson meet in a women’s 60m race at the National Stadium in Kingston.

Representing the New Era Track Club, Thompson-Herah is expected to start in lane five and will compete against compatriots Tina Clayton, Jura Levy and Natasha Morrison as well as Bahamian sprinter Anthonique Strachan.

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