Tokyo 2020
With Sha'Carri Richardson's ban, can the Jamaican women sweep 100m at the Tokyo Olympics?
The ban on Sha'Carri Richardson means the path to glory for the Jamaican women becomes a lot easier in 100m sprint.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Elaine Thompson (Source: Nbcsports)
The Jamaican men's 100m field is in shambles. Ever since the big man, Usain Bolt, retired from the sport four years back in 2017, the Jamaicans have struggled to fill in the void.
Such has been their fall that Jamaica failed to clinch a single medal in men's 100m, 200m and 4x100 – events which they have dominated in the past, during the 2019 World Championships in Doha. It has been two years since the disappointing campaign in Doha, but they seem to have gone further down the rain.
As the 2020 Tokyo Olympics approaches, the Jamaican men have only one 100m sprinter in the top 15 in Road to Olympic Games rankings – Yohan Blake, who is ranked 12th with a timing of 9.96 seconds.
Besides, the 31-year-old Blake is the only sprinter from Jamaica to clock sub-10 seconds this season. Glory in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics looks far beyond their reach at this moment.
But the same cannot be really said about the Jamaican women, especially in the 100m event.
What does the ban on Sha'Carri Richardson mean for the Jamaicans?
The Jamaican women constitute of three of the top 4 places in the women's 100m in Road to Olympic Games rankings. The six-time Olympic medallist Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce with a timing of 10.63 seconds, sits at the top of the rankings. She is backed up by the defending 100m champion Elaine Thompson (10.73) and the 400m bronze medallist in Rio Olympics Shericka Jackson (10.77) in third and fourth place, respectively.
The only other woman in the top 4 challenging the dominance of Pryce, Thompson and Jackson is the second-ranked American, Sha'Carri Richardson, who has now been banned for a month for smoking marijuana and will be not in action at the Tokyo Olympics due to the same.
The ban on Richardson means the path to glory for the top three Jamaican women becomes a lot easier.
Who can pose a challenge to the Jamaicans in Women's 100m?
The only real threat to their dominance in 100m sprint in Tokyo will be Great Britain's Dina Asher-Smith.
Smith, who is ranked fifth in the Road to Olympic Games rankings, though, has been a bit rusty this season. Her season-best of 10.91 seconds is far off her personal best of 10.83 seconds, which she achieved in the year 2019.
Only if the 25-year-old Dina Asher-Smith produces something sensational in Tokyo will the Jamaican supremacy in women's 100m be challenged. Or else, it could well be a sweep for Jamaica in women's 100m at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Can the Jamaican women sweep 100m once again at the Olympics?
The first time Jamaican women swept the women's 100m at the Olympics was during the 2008 Beijing Games when a young Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce took home her first-ever Olympic gold, clocking 10.78 seconds, while the country's Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart shared the second position and medal as they registered a similar 10.98 seconds.
As of how things stand currently, almost 13 years after it first happened, Jamaica might once again sweep the women's 100m at the Tokyo Olympics.
