Jamaica's Elaine Thompson-Herah breaks 33-year-old Olympic record in women's 100 meters

The late Florence Griffith Joyner's Olympic record in the women's 100 meters had held since the 1988 Seoul games, but as of Saturday it's no more. Jamaica's Elaine Thompson-Herah edged Griffith Joyner's 33-year-old mark by a hundredth of a second, as she captured gold with a 10.61 mark.

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Joyner Griffith's world record mark of 10.49, which some people consider controversial because of questions over whether it was wind assisted, still stands, however, meaning Thompson-Herah officially ran the second-fastest sprint of all time.

Thompson was joined on the podium by her fellow Jamaicans Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson, who won silver and bronze, respectively. That gave the country — which has a rich track and field history — a clean sweep in the sport's most heralded event. The trio is expected to team up for the 4x100 relays. One would think they like their chances.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.