Kishane Thompson (born 17 July 2001) is a Jamaican track and field athlete who competes as a sprinter. He won the silver medal at the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 2024), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la XXXIIIe Olympiade, links=no) and also known as Paris 2024, is an upcoming international multi-sport event that is s ...

in the

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

event.

Career

A member of the MVP Track Club, Thompson competed at the Jamaican national trials in June 2023, and ran 9.91 seconds for the 100 metres in his qualifying heat. However, he pulled-out of the competition prior to the semi-final. This was pre-planned, his coach Stephen Francis explained that due to a number of injuries in previous years he had a schedule to avoid multiple-round running that year. Thompson made his

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...

debut competing in the 100 metres in Monaco on 21 July 2023, running 10.04 seconds to finish fifth. In September 2023, he lowered his 100 metres personal best to 9.85 seconds to finish second at the Diamond League event in Xiamen, China. On 27 June 2024, he ran 9.82 seconds for the 100 metres in the opening round at the Jamaican Olympic trials in

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inter ...

. In the subsequent final, he ran a new personal best of 9.77 seconds to win the Jamaican national title. On 4 August 2024, a controversial men's 100-meter final took place. Thompson and Noah Lyles finished with the exact same time of 9.79 seconds, but Lyles was ultimately awarded the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

by a margin of five-thousandths of a second after a photo finish. Thompson was awarded the

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

. The close finish led to a heated debate among sports enthusiasts and analysts. Many argued that the race was a "dead heat" and that the gold medal should have been shared between the two athletes since their times were identical. The confusion was further amplified when notable sports broadcasters, including NBC, initially reported that Thompson had won the race.

Track records

As of 8 September 2024, Thompson holds the following track records for 100 metres.

References

Living people 2001 births Jamaican male sprinters 21st-century Jamaican people Olympic silver medalists for Jamaica Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Jamaica {{Jamaica-athletics-bio-stub