“When she’s at her best, she’s damn near unbeatable,” is how track and field legend Michael Johnson described Elaine Thompson-Herah. Johnson wasn’t the only one who held the fastest woman alive in such high regard in episode 4 of Netflix’s SPRINT. Allyson Felix had reserved similar praise for the Jamaican. However, the last three years have seen Thompson’s dominance fade.

From being a “double-double Olympic champion” in Felix’s words to missing the Paris Olympics. An Achilles injury at the New York City Grand Prix may have sealed her fate for Paris 2024, but Elaine Thompson-Herah’s real challenges began long before that. After her Tokyo glory, cracks started showing, but—the rollercoaster ride of her career isn’t just about injuries. It’s been four coaching changes in the mix, with a fifth one on the way!

Elaine Thompson-Herah makes a career-disrupting change

Besides replicating her 100m and 200m double gold-winning success from Rio 2016, Elaine Thompson-Herah elevated her legacy in Tokyo 2020 by adding a third gold medal. If that wasn’t enough the Jamaican sprinting icon even upgraded her 4x100m relay silver from Rio to gold in Tokyo. Talk about a triple threat! However, despite Thompson-Herah and Team Jamaica’s dominance in 2021, internal conflicts within the team had reached a boiling point.

Elaine Thompson-Herah and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce‘s success at Rio 2016 laid the foundation for that conflict. Since both champions trained at MVP Track Club under Stephen and Paul Francis, their friendship turned into a rivalry. “We operate more like a team,” Stephen Francis said in the Netflix docu-series SPRINT.

However, when both Fraser-Pryce and Thompson-Herah became Olympic champions, practice sessions turned into a competition. Fraser-Pryce was the first to leave in 2020 because by then the MVP buddies didn’t even talk to one another. Despite the 37-year-old’s departure, things didn’t improve, because the 32-year-old didn’t agree with the coaches at MVP.

“When you let all athletes train together, it can be very challenging because you tend to race each other in practice. You don’t want that to happen. You don’t want too much chaos.” the sprinter said in Episode 4: Trails & Tribulations. Elaine Thompson-Herah craved one-on-one attention as arguably MVP’s biggest athlete said Coach Francis.

Unable to address these differences, the six-time Olympic medalist parted ways with the camp she called home for 11 years. However, the move didn’t pan out the way the second-fastest woman in history hoped it would. Despite her husband Derron Herah taking up coaching duties, the Olympian’s performances took a hit.

The triple gold medalist at Tokyo had to settle for 100m bronze at the 2022 World Championships. In the 4x100m relay, the Jamaican earned silver. However, when the lackluster continued at the 2023 Jamaican National Championships, Elaine Thompson-Herah knew she had to make changes.

Elaine Thompson-Herah’s short-lived success with Shanikie Osbourne

With her 2024 Paris Olympics qualification in jeopardy, the sprinter joined forces with coach Shanikie Osbourne in 2023. Osbourne’s task was to help the fastest woman alive, find her form again, and she did admirably. In Thompson-Herah’s first race under Osbourne, she achieved a season-best time of 11:00 sec in the 100m. Throughout the season, the 32-year-old improved on it.

In her fifth race, at the Diamond League finals, Elaine Thompson-Herah ran a 10.79-second 100m sprint at Eugene, Oregon. It was enough to earn the veteran sprinter a bronze medal. However, just when it looked like the Olympian had found her match, things spiraled out of control. In November 2023, Andi Sports Management, the agency that managed the Olympian, put out a shocking statement.

They announced that Shanikie Osbourne and Thompson-Herah’s collaboration had come to an end. “The professional separation came about due to a breakdown in negotiations on a compensation package for the services that would be provided by Coach Osbourne,” explained Marvin from Andi Sports. However, Shanikie Osbourne refuted the claims.

She claimed that Elaine Thompson-Herah’s husband and former coach Derron Herah had offered terms she couldn’t accept. So when she rejected the offer, the five-time Olympic gold medalist reached out herself. However, nothing productive or concrete came of it. After the announcement, Coach Osbourne refuted claims of inflexibility during the negotiation.

“What Marvin put out saying we gave them no room to negotiate is a big lie!” Osbourne told Caribbean media outlet SportsMax. After the contract renewal with Shanikie Osbourne fell through, she once again changed coaches.

The return of the prodigal MVP Track Club star?

In late 2023 Elaine Thompson-Herah joined Elite Performance Track Club. Although Reynaldo Walcott acted as head coach for the team, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce co-founded the institution after leaving MVP. Unfortunately for the 32-year-old, her stint with Elite Performance Track Club was too short to even understand if she improved.

The former Olympic double champion has been on the sidelines since her Achilles injury in New York. After 2024 marked the worst year for the Jamaican track and field team at the Olympics in decades, elite athletes are leaving Elite Performance. Co-founder Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce who already developed a rocky relationship with Walcott, is set to leave after the Paris 2024 disappointment.

Paris 2024 bronze medalist Rasheed Broadbell has already left. Now the Jamaican Observer has reported that the double-double Olympic champion is in talks with MVP. The Observer reported that Elaine Thompson-Herah is likely to rejoin the club that helped her gain six Olympic medals and the title of second-fastest woman in history. However, we’re yet to learn when she plans to return to MVP.