Parish Olympics
Gabby Thomas was leading the way and had already raised her hands to her head, overcome with the awareness that she had won the 200-meter Olympic title at this precise moment.
Only a few strides behind her, in second place, was the newly crowned 100-meter champion Julien Alfred. A little further back, in lanes 4, 5, and 6, Dina Asher-Smith, Daryll Neita, and Brittany Brown of the USA were running shoulder to shoulder, with only three-hundredths of a second separating them. With everything they had, the three of them were striving for that one more millimetre that would secure the bronze. Brown understood it.
Thus, another Games has passed for this gifted British duo without one of them taking home a medal. Neita placed fourth in the 100 meters and fifth in the 200. Asher-Smith placed fourth in the longer sprint after failing to get past the semifinals in the shorter one. In all honesty, neither Asher-Smith, who is 28, nor Neita, who is 27, will likely have a better chance of taking home an individual Olympic medal than the one they let slip away at the Stade de France.
This race had always been Thomas’s to win, ever since Shericka Jackson of Jamaica withdrew due to injury prior to the heats. Jackson is the only other woman alive who can put in the types of times that Thomas has been finishing this season, and she is the second-fastest person in history behind Florence Griffith Joyner. Although well short of her personal record, her winning time of 21.83 seconds was just somewhat slower than her best this season.
Asher-Smith would have been challenging Alfred for the silver medal if she could have merely replicated her performance and come near to the 22.07 seconds she ran in London only one month ago, much alone her personal best of 21.88 seconds.
With her career to date, Asher-Smith deserves it. Deservingness isn’t as important in this sport, though. She attempted to lead the final. She accelerated quickly around the corner and took the lead after 50 meters, but Thomas picked up speed quickly in the straightaway. As she overtook, Asher-Smith could be seen straining to keep up with her. It was evident to her that she was losing the race. With fifty meters remaining, Alfred passed her, and at last, ten meters from the finish, Brown also caught up to her.
Asher-Smith subsequently recalled, “I was told to get out and just keep going, and if you die, you die.” She did, too. Despite everything, she forced a grin and expressed her happiness for Alfred, her training partner, as well as her pride in her performance.
For someone who had just finished fourth in one of the biggest races of her career, she appeared strangely upbeat. “Holding my own made me feel really proud,” she remarked.
Neita made comparable remarks. “I’ve had an amazing Games experience as a double finalist,” she remarked. A few athletes are content to reach the finals. Others are content to acquire them. It distinguishes between greatness and goodness.
which Thomas possesses. If anything, a touch too much. In addition to her gold medal from the Olympics, her bronze from Tokyo three years prior, and her assortment of relay medals, she holds a master’s degree in epidemiology from the University of Texas and a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from Harvard. When she’s not training, competing, advocating for black representation, or discussing ways to improve her sport, she volunteers at a non-profit medical centre that provides healthcare to those without health insurance. Everyone on the circuit knows that she is also one of the friendliest people you will ever meet.
This implies you wouldn’t want to compete with her. When it comes to it, she can be tough enough. If you don’t take pleasure in humiliating your opponents, you won’t win many races. She attempted to give Asher-Smith a congrats after winning the semi-final and qualifying in second position. Asher-Smith, who subsequently claimed to have “run angry,” fired off a few brief remarks that are perhaps better left to lip readers, then walked right by. In response, Thomas gave the camera that was focused on the two of them a cheeky little side-eye grin.
The 200-meter run is a vastly different sport than the 100-meter run. It takes a turn and is twice as long, but more importantly, the combination of the two requires more of a runner. In the 100m, you can win by simply sprinting all the way to the finish line, but the 200m demands more. It combines endurance, power, speed, and skill. It requires technical accuracy and tactical precision, which is why Wilma Rudolph, Marie-José Pérec, Frankie Fredericks, and Allyson Felix—some of the best at it—have also been among the most fashionable across any distance.
Thomas is a perfect fit for the family. Once upon a time, you could have also said that Asher-Smith would work.
