Michelle-Lee Raquel Ahye (last name rhyming with Lee, thus, ah-ee) [2] [3] [4] (born 10 April 1992) is a Trinidadian sprinter. She was the gold medallist at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the women's 100 metres.
She was part of Trinidad and Tobago's squad that finished fourth in the women's 4 × 100 m relay at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, while running a national record time of 42.50 seconds in the heats. [5]
She was born in Port of Spain but lives in the community of Carenage with her mother, Raquel Ahye. She attended Carenage Girls' Government Primary School where her talent of running was discovered, with the help of her Physical Education teacher, Ms. Akowe. She then furthered her career by running in the Milo Games where she proved herself to be one of the best runners in her age group. [6]
Ahye won the Trinidad & Tobago National T&F Championships 100m title in both 2013 and 2014. In 2013, Ahye traveled to Moscow, Russia to compete at the IAAF World Outdoor T&F Championships, representing her country of Trinidad & Tobago. In the winter of 2014, Ahye traveled to Sopot, Poland representing Trinidad & Tobago at the IAAF World Indoor T&F Championships in the women's 60m dash. In the finals, Ahye set a new National Record for 60 meters by running 7.10 seconds and placing 6th overall.
In the 2014 outdoor season, Ahye burst onto the worldwide professional Track and Field scene by running at personal best 10.85 in the 100m, winning 12 of 13 races and ranking third in the world by Track and Field News. Ahye placed 1st in the 100m event at the Lausanne Diamond League meet on July 3, 2014 running 10.98. Michelle then traveled to the Glasgow Diamond League meet in Scotland, and defeated the defending 100m Olympic Champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica by running 11.01 on July 12, 2014. Ahye was also victorious in several other world-class T&F meets in Guadeloupe, Ponce Puerto Rico, Paris France and Switzerland. On Sept 13, 2014 Ahye placed 2nd at the Continental Cup in Marrakech Morocco for the Americas Team. [7]
Ahye won the first ever gold medal for a female Trinidadian track and field athlete at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia
Ahye is coached by Fritzroy "Eric" Francis in Houston, Texas and managed by Stellar Athletics. [8]
She is openly lesbian. [9] [10] In 2023, she married Canadian sprinter Crystal Emmanuel-Ahye. [11]
Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2018 | Commonwealth Games | Gold Coast, Australia | 1st | 100 m | 11.14 |
Richard "Torpedo" Thompson is a sprinter from Trinidad and Tobago who specializes in the 100 metres. His personal best of 9.82 seconds, set in June 2014, was one of the top ten fastest of all time, and a national record. In the 200 meters, he has the fourth fastest time by a Trinidad and Tobago athlete.
Trinidad and Tobago sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. Its participation in the Beijing games marked its eighteenth Olympic appearance and fifteenth Summer Olympic appearance since its debut at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, excluding its joint participation with Jamaica and Barbados in 1960 as the West Indies Federation. With 28 athletes, more Trinidadians had competed at the Olympics than in any other single Olympic Games in its history before Beijing. Athletes representing Trinidad and Tobago advanced past the preliminary or qualification rounds in twelve events and reached the final rounds in four of those events. Of those four events, silver medals were won in the men's 100 meters and in the men's 4x100 meters relay. The latter was upgraded to gold due to one member of the quartet that crossed the line first, Nesta Carter, testing positive for a banned substance, resulting in their disqualification. The nation's flag bearer at the opening ceremony that year was swimmer and Athens medalist George Bovell.
Dawn Harper-Nelson is an American track and field athlete who specializes in the 100-meter hurdles. She was the gold medalist in the event at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the silver medalist in the 2012 London Olympic Games and the 2017 World Championships. Harper is the first American 100-meter hurdler to ever win gold at an Olympics and medal in the following Olympics. She is trained by Bob Kersee, husband of Jackie Joyner-Kersee, six time Olympic medalist also from her hometown of East St. Louis, Illinois. She is a member of the 2022 class of the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame.
Keston Bledman, HBM is a track and field sprint athlete, who competes internationally for Trinidad and Tobago.
Kelly-Ann Kaylene Baptiste is a Tobagonian track and field sprint athlete.
Wanda Hutson is a track and field sprint athlete who competes internationally for Trinidad and Tobago.
Deon Kristofer Lendore was a Trinidad and Tobago sprinter who specialised in the 400 metres. He won a bronze medal in the 4 × 400 metres relay event at the 2012 Summer Olympics, and won medals at the Pan American Junior Athletics Championships, World Athletics Championships and World Athletics Indoor Championships. Lendore died in a car collision in Texas, United States, on 10 January 2022.
Crystal Emmanuel-Ahye is a Canadian sprinter who specialises in the 200 metres. She is the Canadian champion in both the 100 m and 200 m as of July 2018. Crystal also holds the 200 m record for Canada, having broken a record that stood for 34 years. She competed in this event at the 2012, 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics, but was eliminated in the semi-finals. At the 2013 World Championships in Athletics, she was eliminated in the heats after being disqualified for a lane infringement.
The Women's 100 metres at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, as part of the athletics programme, was held at Hampden Park on 27 and 28 July 2014.
The women's 100 metres event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place between 12 and 13 August at the Olympic Stadium. The winning margin was 0.12 seconds. The winner, Elaine Thompson from Jamaica, had the second slowest reaction time in the final.
The women's 200 metres competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The event was held at the Olympic Stadium between 15–17 August. The winning margin was 0.10 seconds. The winner, Elaine Thompson from Jamaica, had the fifth fastest reaction time in the final.
Trinidad and Tobago competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, from August 5 to 21, 2016. This was the nation's seventeenth appearance at the Summer Olympics, although it previously competed in four other editions as a British colony, and as part of the West Indies Federation.
The women's 100 metres at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Beijing National Stadium on 23 and 24 August. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce entered the competition as the defending champion and the world leading athlete that season with a time of 10.74 seconds.
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Trinidad and Tobago competed at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast, Australia from April 4 to April 15, 2018.
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The following table is an overview of national records in the 100 metres.
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