42 Facts About Obadele Thompson

Obadele "Oba" Thompson BSS was born on 30 March 1976 and is a Barbados-born former sprinter, lawyer, author, and speaker.

Obadele Thompson won Barbados's first and only Olympic medal as an independent country by placing third in the 100 metres at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Obadele Thompson is a three-time Olympian, and a finalist at each Olympics.

Obadele Thompson was an eleven-time NCAA All-American and a sixteen-time Western Athletic Conference Champion.

Obadele Thompson has been listed as one of UTEP's all-time top 10 male athletes.

Obadele Thompson was a keynote speaker at the official launch of the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup in Barbados and has participated in leadership development programs, including with the West Indies Cricket Team.

Obadele Thompson has served variously as a speaker and panellist on matters related to sports management, performance, and anti-doping.

Obadele Thompson was inducted into the UTEP Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2007, and into the UTEP Athletics and Drake Relays Halls of Fame in 2011.

Obadele Thompson was coached by respected Barbadian coaches Frank "Blackie" Blackman and the late Anthony Lovell.

Obadele Thompson first represented Barbados at age 14, winning the 100 and 200 metres at the 1990 Caribbean Union of Teachers Games in Georgetown, Guyana.

Obadele Thompson again showed promise by winning the 100 m in the under-17 age division at the 1991 CARIFTA Games in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

In 1993, Obadele Thompson became the Barbados national senior 100 m champion, and placed third and second in the 100 and 200 metres, respectively, at the Pan American Junior Athletics Championships in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Obadele Thompson was not invited to the top American junior track meets for similar reasons.

Not deterred, in early 1993, Obadele Thompson contacted Hall of Fame former UTEP head track coach, Bob Kitchens, who had trained Nigerian sprinter, Olapade Adeniken, to the 1992 NCAA Outdoor 100 and 200 metres titles.

Obadele Thompson's record-setting 100 m run earned him the Austin Sealy Award for Most Outstanding Performance of the championships.

Obadele Thompson won the Jamaica Junior National Championships in the 100 m, the CAC Junior Championships in the 100 and 200 metres, placed fourth in the 100 m at the World Junior Championships and was the youngest semifinalist in 100 m at the Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada.

Obadele Thompson completed his final year in the junior category by dominating the yearly global 100 m performance list.

Internationally, Obadele Thompson successfully defended his title in the 100 m at the Senior CAC Championships in Guatemala, while adding the 200 m title in a new championship record of 20.49 sec.

Obadele Thompson was the youngest semifinalist in the 200 m at the World Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, and won a silver medal in the 100 m at the World University Games in Fukuoka, Japan.

Obadele Thompson started the 1996 season on fire, winning his first NCAA Indoor Championship in an NCAA indoor 200 m record.

Obadele Thompson sustained a groin injury during that race, forcing him to miss practice for a week.

Obadele Thompson withdrew from the meet, extinguishing the anticipated showdown with Trinidadian sprinter, Ato Boldon of UCLA.

Obadele Thompson started his senior collegiate season by winning the WAC indoor 55 m in 5.99 sec.

Obadele Thompson is the first and only man to go under the 6-second barrier in that event.

Obadele Thompson became only the sixth person since 1969 to win this double.

Obadele Thompson finished second in the same event at the IAAF Grand Prix Finals in Fukuoka, Japan.

Pfaff helped Obadele Thompson shake off mid-season woes and finish the last two months of competition strongly.

Obadele Thompson reached the zenith of his athletic career in 2000.

Obadele Thompson returned to competition ten days before the Games to set a 200 m personal best of 19.97 sec.

Three weeks before the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton, Alberta, Obadele Thompson sustained a pectoral tear during training but rebounded and narrowly missed making the 100 m finals while heavily bandaged.

Obadele Thompson raced sparingly and unremarkably in 2004, and just weeks before the 2004 Athens Olympics his participation was doubtful due to various injuries.

In 2005, Obadele Thompson returned to competing in the 200 m outdoors for the first time since the 2000 Sydney Olympic finals five years earlier.

Obadele Thompson placed fourth at the CAC Championships in Nassau, Bahamas in a season-best 20.53 sec.

In 2008, Obadele Thompson sustained another hamstring injury during the Barbados Olympic trials that ended his hopes of participating in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Obadele Thompson never earned an athletic scholarship nor had formal coaching, he won the 100 m at the 1963 Jamaica National Championships, while studying at UWI in Mona, Jamaica.

In February 2007, Obadele Thompson married former American sprinter and basketball player, Marion Jones.

On his return to Barbados after his Olympic medal-winning performance, Obadele Thompson was greeted by thousands of well-wishers who lined the streets as his motorcade travelled from the airport to the Barbados Government headquarters, where the former Prime Minister, Owen Arthur, conferred on him the title of Ambassador and Special Envoy for Youth.

Obadele Thompson was awarded the country's fourth highest award, the Barbados Service Star Award, for his outstanding contribution to sports, the Barbados Minister's Award for Sports, and was three times named the Barbados National Sports Personality of the year.

Obadele Thompson has been involved with the Barbados Special Olympics and featured in an advertising campaign against drug abuse for the United Nations Drug Control Programme.

Obadele Thompson filmed a television commercial for UNICEF's "The Rights of Children" to draw attention to the treatment and rights of children.

An asthmatic since three years old, Obadele Thompson participated in the 2001 World Asthma Day and filmed a television commercial based on his experience as a lifelong asthmatic.

Obadele Thompson was featured in his own NBC Olympic television commercial shown during the 1999 MLB World Series.