Ten current and former members of the LSU Track & Field program representing four countries from around the world made the trip to London, England, to compete in the 2012 Olympic Games in the most prestigious competition the sport has to offer. They certainly made their school proud with their performance in London once again as LSU’s 10 athletes ranked No. 5 for Olympic representation among all programs in collegiate track and field.
GAMES OF THE
XXX Olympiad
Led by the performance of medalists Ade AlleyneForte and Richard Thompson of Trinidad & Tobago and Samantha Henry of Jamaica, the Tigers and Lady Tigers were well-represented with 10 athletes competing at the Games of the XXX Olympiad held in
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London, England, in the summer of 2012. Following his Olympics debut in 2008 in which he captured a pair of silver medals for his nation in the 100-meter dash and 4x100-meter relay, Thompson became the most decorated Olympian in the history
LOLO JONES
of LSU athletics when he anchored his country to the silver medal in the 4x100 relay to claim a third Olympic medal as one of the world’s bright young sprint stars. In what proved to be the fastest relay race in history, Thompson anchored a Trinidad & Tobago team that also featured Keston Bledman, Marc Burns and Emmanuel Callender to a second-place finish with a run of 38.12 seconds in the final in London. Jamaica became the first relay team in history to break 37 seconds in breaking its own world record with a gold-medal-winning run of 36.84. The United States finished second in the race, but was later stripped of its silver medal by the International Olympic Committee. That performance earned Thompson the distinction of being LSU’s first athlete regardless of sport to win three Olympic medals in a career as he now owns three silver medals from the Olympic Games. Not only that, but Thompson also lined up in the 100-meter final for the second-straight time as he crossed the finish line in seventh place with a 9.98 clocking after taking the silver medal with a run of 9.89 in 2008. Jamaica’s Usain Bolt defended his Olympic gold medal with an Olympic record of 9.63, and Jamaican Yohan Blake struck silver in 9.75 with American Justin Gatlin taking the bronze in 9.79. Like Thompson, Alleyne-Forte helped Trinidad & Tobago capture a bronze medal while running the third leg for his country in the 4x400-meter relay final. While making his Olympics debut following an All-American senior season with the Tigers, Alleyne-
NEISHA BERNARD-THOMAS
2021 TRACK & FIELD RECORD BOOK
SAMANTHA HENRY
