BEIJING, China – Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser won the gold medal in the Women’s 100m with a personal best time of 10.78 seconds at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
Fraser led from the start to finish, well clear of her compatriots Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart, who won silver together in identical times of 10.98s.
Silver medalist Sherone Simpson commented on the Jamaican clean sweep of the medals, “We made history. Just like yesterday Bolt [Usain Bolt, Jamaica] set a new world record. We are all great athletes and I’m very excited about the tremendous achievement we’ve made for our country.”
Shelly-Ann Fraser competes in the final line.
Photo by: Xinhua
“The guys should have done it too; they had the speed to,” teased Stewart.
It marked only the sixth clean sweep in Olympic Games Women’s Athletics. It was the first time a 100m event had been swept at an Olympic Games level since the US men won all medals in Stockholm in 1912.
Athens silver medalist Lauryn Williams finished fourth in 11.03, which was the best result of the three United States finalists.
“I was thinking the photo finish was between me and Sherone [Simpson],” she said after the race.
Williams’ team-mate Muna Lee recovered from a bad start to claim fifth in 11.07, while Torri Edwards, who came into the race as the season’s fastest woman, finished last in a time of 11.20.
Jeanette Kwakye, the first Briton to reach the sprint final since Heather Oakes in 1984, finished sixth.
Defending Olympic champion Yulia Nestsiarenka of Belarus fell short in the semifinal.
The world record in this event, never really approached before or since, is the controversial 10.49 put up by the late Florence-Griffith Joyner.
Jamaica is now home to the fastest two people on the planet, after Usain Bolt won last night’s Men’s 100m final in dramatic fashion, setting a new world record of 9.69 seconds.
