"Jamaica has a population less than 3m, yet the best sprint factory in the world" - Michael Johnson praises the Jamaican athletics

World Athletics Championships Oregon22 - Day Nine
Elaine Thopson-Herah, Kemba Nelson, Shericka Jackson and Shelly- Ann Fraser Pryce after winning the 4x100m relay finals at the 2022 World Athletics Championships Oregon

Jamaica's dominance in the athletic world has always kept the fans awe-inspiring. Legendary American sprinter Michael Johnson was also taken away by the Jamaicans mastery of the track.

Most of the all-time greatest names in the athletics world come from Jamaica, including the legendary sprinter Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, Asafa Powell, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, and Shericka Jackson.

Michael Johnson took to social media to express his admiration and obsession with Jamaican athletes. He praised the number of sprinters making it to the international stage from the Caribbean country.

His tweet came after a fellow fan quoted,

"You are so obsessed with Jamaican"
"True! Jamaica has a population less than 3m, yet the best sprint factory in the world. There's nobody in the sport who's not obsessed and impressed," he wrote.

The Jamaican rule on the men's 100m

Nickel Ashmaeda, Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, and Asafa Powell after winning the men's 4x100m at the 2016 Rio Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil
Nickel Ashmaeda, Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, and Asafa Powell after winning the men's 4x100m at the 2016 Rio Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil

Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell have dominated the men's 100m since 2005. In 2005, Powell first broke the record with a time of 9.768 seconds. Powell then went on to break his own records several times. In June 2006, he completed the 100m in 9.763 seconds in the UK, only to reduce it to 9.762 seconds in Zurich in August 2006 and to further decrease the time to 9.735 seconds in 2007 in Italy.

After Powell's era came the legendary sprinter Bolt. He kept breaking his own record from 9.715 seconds in May 2008 to 9.638 seconds in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Bolt's 9.58 seconds world record still stands unbroken after 14 years.

Jamaican Women athlete's dominance on track

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Elaine Thompson-Herah, and Shericka Jackson after winning in the women's 100m in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in 2021 in Japan
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Elaine Thompson-Herah, and Shericka Jackson after winning in the women's 100m in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in 2021 in Japan

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Elaine Thompson-Herah, and Shericka Jackson dominated the podium in Tokyo Olympics, where Thompson-Herah won a gold, Fraser-Pryce won a silver and Jackson won a bronze medal in the women's 100m. Thompson-Herah also won gold in the women's 200m.

Thompson-Herah also won two gold medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics in women's 100m and 200m.

Thompson-Herah's 10.54 seconds in 100m at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Eugene, Oregon, in 2021 stands second in the women's fastest time only after Florence Griffith Joyner's 10.49 seconds. Fraser-Pryce's 10.60 seconds at the Lausanne Diamond League in 2021 stands third.

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