Jamaican sprint star and the fastest woman alive, Elaine Thompson-Herah says she doesn’t dance anymore as she is now more mature and she does not listen to dancehall.
Speaking with Anthony Miller on the grounds in Trench Town, the home of Bob Marley, Miller asked the three time olympic champion “What’s on your playlist? What are you listening to? Who are your favorite DJs? I know you like to dance”
She responded, ” I like to dance but I think its back then, I am a little mature, I am a more grown up now”
“My most playlist is like gospel right now and I have a-lot of gospel that I listen to but I don’t listen to dancehall,” She continued.
The same questions were asked of Raheem Sterling who was also present and he said “Jahshii, I love the music, I think the message that he is putting across in terms of the positivity the struggle that he has been through, my sorta music is cultural music.”
Leon Bailey also said, “I am a dancehall person a hundred percent, I am good with a lot of them. there is a Squash on my playlist, a Skillibeng on my playlist, there is Skeng, so much on my playlist.”
Along with ShellyAnn Fraser-Pryce the four Jamaican athletes were in attendance to welcome the Duke and Duchess Of Cambridge on their official visit to Jamaica earlier this week. Prince William played a bout of kick ball with U.K based Jamaican footballers Sterling and Bailey along with the Kingston College Manning Cup Team.
During the Olympic 4×100 meter relay finals, Thompson-Herah was seen doing ‘dirt bounce’ moves after her races. After her stopping performances during the track season started a TikTok page where she would post her latest dance moves.
Fastest man in the world and triple Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt had given some advice to the Jamaican women sprinters who were not tapping into the culture and projecting their personalities on and off the track.
During an interview with the UK Times, Bolt said he was impressed with female sprinters such as Jamaicans Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, and Shericka Jackson who made their mark in the sport in a photo finish 1,2,3 in the 100m final at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
“They’re really keeping the sport exciting. All we need is a personality — most of the ladies are really quiet and chill,” Bolt said. “What’s missing is the performance that I always put on that people really love.”
Many sports fans commented that the Jamaican women were slighted by the American media and especially Nike, in favor of spirited American sprint star and last place runner Sha’Carri Richardson.
Richardson was given a Beats by Dre and a Nike ad to mark her rerun to the sport after a suspension for marijuana use caused her to miss the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Since her emergence on the scene as a leading runner in the US, she has made the international news in one way or another. Although she is yet to receive international triumph in any major race, she got a shout-out on Drake’s latest album Certified Lover Boy.
“And I’m like Sha’Carri, smoke ’em on and off the track,” Drake quipped on No Friends in the Industry.
Bolt, who has said that Sha’Carri is good for the sport, was also the subject of many Dancehall and Rap songs in his heyday. It’s leverage he has since used to collaborate with artists like Vybz Kartel, Cham, and Christopher Martin and to launch his own lifestyle brand the A-Team, and his fledgling musical career.
The eight-time Olympic Gold champion, who has had a successful post-track career landing endorsements with several companies including a lifetime Puma deal, got a No. 1 Reggae album with music videos on iTunes. The album, titled Country Yutes, was released on September 3 with Bolt’s executive manager and business partner Nugent ‘NJ’ Walker.
