Pauline Davis-Thompson

Pauline Elaine Davis-Thompson, née Davis, (9 July 1966) is a former Bahamian sprinter. She competed at five Olympics, a rarity for a track and field athlete. She won her first medal at her fourth Olympics and her first gold medals at her fifth Olympics (Sydney 2000) at age 34 in the 4 × 100 m Relay and, after Marion Jones' belated disqualification nine years later, in the 200 m.

Career In 1984, she was awarded the Austin Sealy Trophy for the most outstanding athlete of the 1984 CARIFTA Games.

Her first high-profile success came in 1989 when she became the NCAA National Champion in the 200-meter dash while setting a collegiate national record as a member of the Alabama Crimson Tide team at the University of Alabama. Then in 1995, she won the silver medal in the 200 metres at the IAAF World Indoor Championships and won another silver, this time in the 400 metres, at the 1995 World Championships in Athletics.

She ran at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics the following year and although she narrowly missed out on a medal in the 400 m, she helped the Bahamian team to a silver medal in the 4 × 100 metres relay. In 1997 she made both the 400 m and 100 m relay finals but failed to win a medal in either event. She received her first World Championships gold medal two years later, in 1999, aiding the Bahamian relay team to victory.

After her track career, she went into athletics administration, being elected to the IAAF council in 2007.

Personal life She's married to Jamaican Olympic hurdler (1992) Mark Thompson.

As a teenager, she had to constantly wear a sports bra to deal with her unoptimal physique at the time.

In 2022, Davis released a memoir, Running Sideways: The Olympic Champion Who Made Track and Field History. It won a 2023 International Book Award and the 2022 Cogan's Track and Field Book Award. In 2024, Davis signed a publishing deal to have Running Sideways translated and published within China.

Personal bests

Achievements