Richard THOMPSON

whilst the larger image to the left shows Richard during the heats. Thompson (lane 5) ran a superb race to win the silver medal in a new PB time of 9.89secs, with Usain Bolt (lane 4) winning gold in a stunning world record of 9.69. The USA's Walter Dix (lane 6) won the bronze medal in a new PB time of 9.91. .

Richard later commented: "It was an amazing experience just being in the final, let alone winning the silver medal. It was my first Olympics and so it will always be special to me. However, as soon as I knew I was going to Beijing I took the view that even though it was my first Olympics I wanted to go there and get something done, not just be a participant."
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That 100m silver medal would not be the end of the success story for Thompson in Bejing, as he would later team up with Keston Bledman, Marc Burns & Emmanuel Callender to win the 4x100m silver medal for Trinidad & Tobago in a time of 38.06 secs. He said: "To go to Beijing and win two silver medals in races when World records were set was, I feel, a great accomplishment for me at this stage of my career. I went to Beijing quite motivated by the fact that nobody was really considering that I had a chance of winning a medal. Final yes, medal no. However, I have to recognise that situation also made it easier for me. The pressure was on the Jamaicans and the Americans and I could focus well on running my own race and not worry about any pressure that was being put on me by my country, or the rest of the world, to win a medal."
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"It was phenomenal the reception I got when I went home to Trinidad (he competed in the two big post-Olympics meets in Zurich and Lausanne before returning home). It was like I'd even won the gold medal, they were so happy that the Trinidad and Tobago flag was raised and it was such a big thing for them" said Thompson.