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Jamaicans Not Pleased With Nike’s Support Of The Island’s Olympic Athletes

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elaine sha
Elaine Thompson-Herah, Sha’Carri Richardson

Jamaicans and other track and field fans are expressing their grouse online and threatening to boycott the Nike brand unless they show due respect to Olympic champion and the fastest woman in the world Elaine Thompson-Herah.

Thompson-Herah, who signed a professional contract with the American sportswear giant in 2016, posted the second-fastest women’s 100-meter time in history at the Eugene Diamond League competition on Saturday.  She also successfully defended her 100-meter and 200-meter Olympic titles at the recently concluded Tokyo 2020 Games.

A series of tweets by influential media personality Debbie Bissoon, kickstarted the tension between Nike and Jamaican social media users.  Bissoon tweeted, “Hey @Nike I know I’m just one person but I’m not buying another Nike anything until you all do right by @FastElaine. Not even a congratulatory post on your IG??? I hope you are currently working on something with her”.

The tweet quickly got thousands of shares, and retweets on both Twitter and Instagram from people all over the world who said, they were willing to join the Nike boycott.  Dancehall singer Ce’cile was among those who replied, when she wrote, “I. Not buying either.. tha disrespect @Nike  do better by our queen..#ElaineThompsonHerah”.

This comes after Nike released an ad with Sha’Carri Richardson to promote her comeback at the Eugene Diamond League.

At the same track meet Elaine Thompson Herah in a world-leading time came first, Shelly Ann Fraser-Price came in second and Sherica Jackson placed third, replicating their 1,2,3 Tokyo Olympic victory. Sha’Carri Richardson came in last.

Leading up to the race, the Diamond League organizers were soft promoting Richardson alongside the Jamaican athletes. She was introduced as the 6th fastest woman and was asked to join the Olympic champions onstage at a press conference to much visible tension.  She then commented, “this is nothing new, we are just back on the track now” while iterating that she has 2M Instagram followers.

She added, “lining up against these women is going to be an amazing race tomorrow, two of the women seen here are two of the fastest women to ever do the sport so I’m honored to be on the stage with them but I’m not star struck.”

After losing, she gave an erratic post-race interview where she said “I am not done”. And reiterated her 6th place.

Nike has only posted a congrats for Elaine Thompson on their “Nike Running” page, which has 5.7M followers, and not their main @Nike page which has 169M followers. The last post on that page three days ago is the ad with Sha’Carri Richardson, who placed 9th at the Diamond League.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CS15M9JFb6q/

More comments came from the Track and Field fans, who are growing impatient of Nike and other American brands and their apparent slighting of the fastest woman alive.

Former American athlete and world record holder Michael Johnson tweeted, “I’m not understanding @nbc not interviewing @FastElaine after running 10.54! I understand interviewing @itskerrii since, let’s be honest, she was a major part of the story. But this is kind of ridiculous! #Prefontaine”

Businessman Wayne Chen responded to Micheal Johnson and wrote, “It is, and a reminder of why we should tell our own stories. An American media house focusing on an over-hyped American athlete is nothing new, and perfectly understandable. It’s all about eyeballs”.

@leiciasmoothy, in agreeing with Debbie Bissoon’s boycott campaign said, “I agree with this…. @Nike we are starting a movement and no matter how long it takes we are gonna see this through. @FastElaine definitely needs a new sponsor… @PUMA we think you should takeover from here for all our athletes, we won’t let u down”

Jamaican Singer Nickeisha Barnes said, “nike you dropped the ball.”

Richardson, who failed to qualify for the Olympics due to positive test for a banned substance, is the leading 100m track and field athlete in America despite her poor performance on the world’s stage.  When Richardson was suspended last month, Nike released a statement that said, “We appreciate Sha’Carri’s honesty and accountability and will continue to support her through this time.”

Usain Bolt’s Manager Nugent walker in commenting on whether Nike dropped the ball on Elaine Thompson Herah said, “Her rep and her sponsors I’m sure has great plans for her. Probably timing hasn’t allowed it to be materialized yet”.

The hashtag #boycottnike is being used to connect the conversation online. Nike has not responded to the current backlash or taken steps to highlight Elaine Thompson Herah on their main pages up to time of publishing.