Dwight Thomas
Dwight Thomas during the 2010 FBK-Games
Personal information
Nationality Jamaica
Born (1980-09-23) 23 September 1980
Height1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight82 kg (181 lb)
Sport
SportRunning
Event(s)100 metres, 200 metres, 110 metres hurdles
College teamClemson University
ClubAdidas Sports
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)100m: 10.00 s (Linz 2005)

200m: 20.29 s (Bydgoszcz 2007)

110m hurdles: 13.15 s (Oslo 2011)
Medal record
Men’s Athletics
Representing  Jamaica
Olympic Games
Disqualified2008 Beijing4×100 m relay
World Championships
Gold medal – first place2009 Berlin4×100 m relay
Pan American Games
Bronze medal – third place 1999 Winnipeg4×100 m relay
CAC Junior Championships (U20)
Gold medal – first place1998 George Town 110 m hurdles
Gold medal – first place1998 George Town 4x100 m relay
CAC Junior Championships (U17)
Gold medal – first place1996 San Salvador 4x100 m relay
Silver medal – second place1996 San Salvador 110 m hurdles
CARIFTA Games
Junior (U20)
Gold medal – first place1997 Bridgetown 4×100 m relay
Gold medal – first place1998 Port of Spain 100m
Gold medal – first place1998 Port of Spain 100m hurdles
Gold medal – first place1999 Fort-de-France 100m
Gold medal – first place1999 Fort-de-France 200m

Dwight Thomas O.D (born 23 September 1980) is a Jamaican sprinter, mainly competing in the 100 metres event and more recently the 110 m hurdles.[1]

Career

He won the bronze medal at the IAAF World Junior Championships in 1998 at the 100 m and gold medal in the 4 × 100 m relay, competed in the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics and finished 5th at the 2005 World Championships. Later in 2005 he placed third at the IAAF World Athletics Final; he was ranked #4 in the world that year by Track & Field News.[2]

Thomas represented Jamaica at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He competed at the 4 × 100 m relay together with Michael Frater, Nesta Carter and Asafa Powell. In their qualification heat they placed first in front of Canada, Germany and China. Their time of 38.31 was the second out of sixteen participating nations in the first round and they qualified for the final. Thomas was replaced by Usain Bolt for the final race and they sprinted to a new world record time of 37.10 seconds, claiming the gold medal.[1] The gold medal was later vacated by the IOC in 2017 when a retest of teammate Nesta Carter found the presence of the prohibited substance methylhexaneamine.[3]

Thomas started athletics at an early age, competing for Calabar High School. He won gold medals at the CARIFTA Games in both 1998 and 1999.

At the 1998 World Junior Championships in Annecy, France, Thomas competed for Jamaica winning a bronze medal in the 100 m, the first in his country's history in the event at the time. Three days later Jamaica won the 4 × 100 m relay.

In 1999 Thomas competed at the Junior Pan American Games in Tampa, Florida, winning the 100 m in 10.37 and the 200 m in 20.66; he was also a part of the winning 4 × 400 m relay team, running the second leg in the finals.[4]

While Thomas attended Clemson University he was the ACC Athlete of the year winning the 60 m and the 60 m hurdles indoor, 100 m and the 200 m outdoor at the ACC Championship and an All American at the NCAA indoor Championship 2002. Thomas was the runner up at the NCAA Championship in the 100 m and the 200 m outdoor, held at LSU in Baton Rouge, to Justin Gatlin, who two years later would become the Olympic Champion in the 100 m.

Thomas transferred to the University of Florida in the fall of 2002 to continue his studies and coached by Mike Holloway, the Head Track & Field coach of the Gators. Thomas opted to go pro instead after finding out, he had to sit out his first year after arriving at Florida under a partial release from Clemson University. He would continue his studies at Florida, while being coached and mentored by Coach Holloway.

Personal bests

Achievements

YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
Representing  Jamaica
1996 Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships (U-17) San Salvador, El Salvador 2nd 100 m hurdles 13.69   (2.0 m/s)
1st 4 × 100 m relay 42.39
1997 CARIFTA Games (U-20) Bridgetown, Barbados 1st 4 × 100 m relay 39.87
1998 CARIFTA Games (U-20) Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago 1st 100 m 10.46
1st 110 m hurdles 14.53   (-3.0 m/s)
Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships (U-20) George Town, Cayman Islands 1st 110 m hurdles 14.40   (0.5 m/s)
1st 4 × 100 m relay 39.84
World Junior Championships Annecy, France 3rd 100 m 10.40   (1.6 m/s)
1999 CARIFTA Games (U-20) Fort-de-France, Martinique 1st 100 m 10.47   (-0.4 m/s)
1st 200 m 20.79   (1.3 m/s)
2000 NACAC U-25 Championships Monterrey, Mexico — 100m DNF
Olympic Games Sydney, Australia 5th (qf) 200 m 20.58   (0.0 m/s)
2001 World Championships Edmonton, Canada 6th (h) 4 × 100 m relay 40.05
2002 Commonwealth Games Manchester, England 4th 100 m 10.15   (0.2 m/s)
2nd 4 × 100 m relay 38.62
2003 World Championships Paris, France 4th (sf) 100 m 10.19   (0.6 m/s)
4 × 100 m relay DNF
2004 Olympic Games Athens, Greece 7th (sf) 100 m 10.28   (0.2 m/s)
4th (h) 4 × 100 m relay 38.71 SB
2005 World Championships Helsinki, Finland 5th 100 m 10.09   (0.4 m/s)
2007 World Championships Osaka, Japan 2nd 4 × 100 m relay 38.02 (h) WL
2009 World Championships Berlin, Germany 7th 110 m hurdles 13.56   (0.1 m/s)
1st 4 × 100 m relay 38.60 (h)
2011 World Championships Daegu, Korea 4th (sf) 110 m hurdles 13.56   (-1.6 m/s)

References

  1. 1 2 "Athlete biography: Dwight Thomas". Beijing2008.cn. Archived from the original on 2 September 2008. Retrieved 29 August 2008.
  2. ↑ "World Rankings - Men's 100" (PDF). Track & Field News. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  3. ↑ "Usain Bolt loses gold medal after relay teammate found guilty of doping". 25 January 2017.
  4. ↑ 1999 Pan Am Junior Championship, Tampa, Florida - Friday July 9, 1999 to Sunday July 11, 1999, C.F.P.I. Timing & Data, retrieved 25 October 2011
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.