Richard "Torpedo" Thompson (born 7 June 1985) is a sprinter from

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of Gr ...

who specializes in the 100 metres. His personal best of 9.82 seconds, set in June 2014, was one of the top ten fastest of all time, and a national record. In the 200 meters he has the fourth fastest time by a Trinidad and Tobago athlete. Thompson studied at Louisiana State University (LSU) and broke the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) indoor 60 metres record in 2008, his final season of collegiate athletics. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Thompson was 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, et ...

ist in the 100 meters, running a then personal best of 9.89 seconds, and the gold medalist in the 4x100 meters relay along with

Emmanuel Callender Emmanuel Earl Callender (sometimes Callander; born 10 May 1984 in Arouca, Trinidad and Tobago) is a track and field sprint athlete, who competes internationally for Trinidad and Tobago. Callender represented Trinidad and Tobago at the 2008 Sum ...

Keston Bledman Keston Bledman, HBM (born 8 March 1988) is a track and field sprint athlete, who competes internationally for Trinidad and Tobago. On 7 July 2007, at the 2007 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships in São Paulo, Brazil, he upset the J ...

and

Marc Burns __NOTOC__ Marc Burns (born 7 January 1983) is an athlete from Trinidad and Tobago specializing in the 100 metres and the 4 x 100 metres relay. Participating in the 2004 Summer Olympics, he was disqualified from his 100 metres heat due to a false ...

. He also won the silver medal in the 4x100 meters at the

2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

with the same team he competed in the 2008 Olympics with. Also in the

, he finished 6th following the disqualification of Tyson Gay in the final of the 100 meters. Thompson is a five time

national champion. His current personal best of 9.82 was set at the 2014 Trinidad and Tobago national championships. In 2017, fellow sprinter and

2008 Olympic Games The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

men's relay gold medalist Nesta Carter was sanctioned by the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

for doping at the 2008 event, retroactively awarding the Trinidad and Tobago team which included Thompson Olympic Gold.

Early life

Born on 7 June 1985 in Cascade,

Port of Spain Port of Spain (Spanish: ''Puerto España''), officially the City of Port of Spain (also stylized Port-of-Spain), is the capital of Trinidad and Tobago and the third largest municipality, after Chaguanas and San Fernando. The city has a munici ...

, Thompson is the last of four children of Ruthven and Judith Thompson. He attended

Queen's Royal College Queen's Royal College ( St.Clair, Trinidad), referred to for short as QRC, or "The College" by alumni, is a secondary school in Trinidad and Tobago. Originally a boarding school and grammar school, the secular college is selective and noted for it ...

in Port of Spain where he was coached by Ashwin Creed. He competed at the 2004 Hampton Games running a time of 10.65 in the 100 meters.

Amateur career

He ran for

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

as a member of the LSU Tigers track and field team and set NCAA Indoor record in the 60 metres in 2008. That year he won the NCAA Men's Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year Award and the SEC Men's Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year award.

Professional career

In his first

World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the ...

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

in 2007, Thompson reached the second round but finished eighth in a time of 10.44 seconds. His personal best time is 9.89 seconds, achieved in August 2008 in

Beijing, China } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

, during the Olympic 100 m final where he won silver. Thompson's personal best for the

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

is 20.18 s which ran in Fayetteville for

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisian ...

. His 60 metres best is 6.51 s, achieved in March 2008 in Fayetteville. He won the relay

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 be ...

at the

2008 Central American and Caribbean Championships The 2008 Central American and Caribbean Championships in Athletics were held at the Estadio Pedro Grajales in Cali, Colombia between 4–6 July 2008. A total of 44 events were contested, of which 22 by male and 22 by female athletes. During the t ...

with Trinidad and Tobago. In the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

he competed in the 100 m sprint and placed first in his heat ahead of Martial Mbandjock with a time of 10.24 s. He qualified for the second round, beating

Tyson Gay Tyson Gay (born August 9, 1982) is an American track and field sprinter who competes in the 100 and 200 meters. His 100 m personal best of 9.69 seconds is the American record and makes him tied for the second fastest athlete over 100 m e ...

and Mbandjock, with a winning time of 9.99 s. He qualified in the semi-finals with a time of 9.93 s, finishing second to

Asafa Powell Asafa Powell, CD (born 23 November 1982) is a retired Jamaican sprinter who specialised in the 100 metres. He set the 100 metres world record twice, between June 2005 and May 2008 with times of 9.77 and 9.74 seconds. Powell has consisten ...

. In the final he finished in second place; he was far behind winner

Usain Bolt Usain St. Leo Bolt, , (; born 21 August 1986) is a retired Jamaican sprinter, widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time. He is the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 × 100 metres relay. An eight-ti ...

(9.69 s) but his time of 9.89 s was enough to win the silver medal and set a new personal best. His new best time made him the second fastest Trinidadian 100 m sprinter ever, after Ato Boldon. Together with

, Aaron Armstrong and

he also competed at the

4 x 100 metres relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest ...

. In their qualification heat they placed first in front of Japan, the Netherlands and Brazil. Their time of 38.26 s was the fastest of all sixteen teams participating in the first round and they qualified for the final. Armstrong was replaced by

for the final race and they sprinted to a time of 38.06 s, the second time after the Jamaican team, winning the

. In 2022, Thompson and his teammates received the gold medal due to Jamaica's Nesta Carter testing positive for the prohibited substance methylhexaneamine. Thompson was involved in a car accident on 1 January 2009, resulting in minor injuries which caused him to miss the indoor athletics season. He competed at the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg ...

and reached the 100 m final, finishing in fifth place with a season's best of 9.93 seconds in fastest ever race at that point in time. He teamed up with fellow finalist

for the relay and ran a national record time of 37.62 seconds to finish as runners-up behind the Jamaican team. He achieved a 100/200 m double at the 2010 national championships. His season was highlighted by a win on the 2010 IAAF Diamond League circuit, taking the 100 m at the

Prefontaine Classic The Prefontaine Classic, an Oregon Track Club event, is one of the premier track and field meets in the United States, held in Eugene, Oregon. Every year it draws a world caliber field to compete at Hayward Field on the campus of the University o ...

with a wind-assisted time of 9.89 seconds. In August Thompson broke the national record with a run of 9.85 s at the 2011 national championships. The achievement, which ranked him ninth fastest in all-time lists, eclipsed Ato Boldon's record by 0.01 seconds. Despite this form, he failed to make the 100 m final at the

2011 World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The United States topped the medal standings in th ...

, being eliminated in the semis, although he did anchor the relay team to fifth place in the final. At the 2012 national championships he had his win streak beaten by

and had to settle for second with his time of 9.96 seconds. In the 2012 100m Olympic final, he gained the distinction of becoming the first man to break ten seconds and finish in seventh place. However, upon the disqualification of

due to doping, Thompson was promoted to sixth place. During the 2014 national championships he won the finals, improving the national record with a run of 9.82 s, becoming one of the 10 fastest 100 m runners ever.

Major competition record

¹Disqualified in the final

Personal bests

* 60 m and 200 m taken from IAAF profile * 100 m taken from NAAA TT WebsiteNAAATT Events & Results 2011 – Sagicor/NAAA Open Championships – Men 100 Meter Dash
NAAA. Retrieved on 2011-08-13.

Notes

References

External links

Richard Thompson medal in the greatest race over 100 metres
from Trinibeat.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Richard 1985 births Living people Trinidad and Tobago male sprinters Olympic athletes of Trinidad and Tobago Olympic silver medalists for Trinidad and Tobago Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Trinidad and Tobago World Athletics Championships medalists Pan American Games competitors for Trinidad and Tobago Athletes (track and field) at the 2007 Pan American Games LSU Tigers track and field athletes Alumni of Queen's Royal College, Trinidad Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Trinidad and Tobago Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic gold medalists for Trinidad and Tobago IAAF Continental Cup winners Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics