Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson Bags 8th Gold For Caribbean At Rio 2016

Elaine Thompson of Jamaica poses with her official time after winning the gold medal in the Women’s 200m Final on Day 12 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium on August 17, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

By NAN Sports Editor

News Americas, RIO, Brazil, Weds. Aug. 17, 2016: Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson proved she is not only the best 100-m women’s champ but the 200-m as well as she last night bagged her second gold medal for her country in Rio and the eighth for a proud Caribbean region.

The 24-year-old from Banana Ground in Manchester, Jamaica and the MVP Track Club, swept the sprints in Rio, beating the reigning 100 and now 200-m medal holders – Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands – in a time of 21.78. Schippers had to settle for silver with a time of 21.88 while the US’ Tori Bowie took the bronze much later at 22.15. Her win created history making her the first woman to win the 100m & 200m in the same Olympics since FloJo in 1988.

Thompson’s second gold medal win pushes the Caribbean region’s medal tally to a whopping 18 medals as of last night, August 17, 2016, as the countdown begins to the close of competition at Rio 2016 Summer Olympics.

The win also means the Caribbean’s gold medal tally moved ahead to eight with Thompson now holding two golds, while Usain Bolt and Omar McLeod also of Jamaica, Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas, Monica Puig of Puerto Rico have one apiece. Cuba’s Ismael Molina Borrero and Mijain Nunez Lopez round out the gold medal count for the region.

Cuba continues to lead the medal count for the Caribbean with eight medals while Jamaica now has six medals. The Bahamas, Grenada, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic have one a piece so far.

Latin America Medal Count

Meanwhile, Latin America’s medal count marched forward to a total of 19 medals.

Brazil leads with11 while Colombia has four medals, Argentina three and Venezuela one.