Local News

The Olympic medal quest ends, at least this year, for Rush-Henrietta track star Lanae-Tava Thomas

WXXI News | By Randy Gorbman

Published August 5, 2024 at 6:10 PM EDT

Lance Thomas, Chief Financial Officer at WXXI, his wife Michelle Thomas, and several co-workers gathered Monday afternoon at the station to watch their daughter Lanae-Tava Thomas compete in the semifinal event in the Paris Olympics in the 200-meter dash. Lanae, a Rush-Henrietta grad, was competing for her home country of Jamaica. She did not finish high enough to move on to the final found on Tuesday.

Olympic sprinter and Rush-Henrietta grad Lanae-Tava Thomas won’t be advancing to the finals in her 200-meter event in Paris.

She did not post a fast enough time in Monday’s semifinals to move on to the finals on Tuesday. She finished 5^th in her particular heat with a time of 22.77. Thomas was running for her native country of Jamaica.

Lanae Tava-Thomas, a former Rush-Henrietta track & field standout, is a sprinter who was competing for Jamaica in the Paris Olympics.

Lanae’s father, Lance Thomas, is chief financial officer at WXXI and he and his wife Michelle were part of a little watch party going on Monday afternoon at the station, with several of their co-workers cheering her on as they watched with the Thomas's in front of a big screen TV.

They were both philosophical about the results, with Michelle Thomas noting her daughter had been ill the day before.

“…I know that the race that she does run, she wasn’t feeling well, she was not on her best game at the moment, so I know she could do much better,” said Michelle Thomas, “But this is just how it is in track and field, you just get one hope and…you have a flu, and the next day, everything go down.”

Lance Thomas said certainly he would have liked to see Lanae move on to the final round, but he noted his 23-year-old daughter still has a lot of running life ahead of her.

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“That’s what you want ultimately, for her to be in the finals, a chance to get a medal, but circumstances didn’t allow for that this time, but you know, there’s always next time, she’s still young,” said Thomas.

Thomas said their daughter can look forward to competing in the World Championship competition next year and hopefully compete again in the Olympics when it comes to Los Angeles in 2028.

Whatever the outcome from Tuesday was, Lance Thomas said it’s still hard to express just what it meant to watch his daughter compete in the Olympics for the first time.

“I don’t think we have words to describe that…this is the child that for (a) long time you have been driving here, there, all over the country to compete,” said Thomas. “Now you get to see her at the highest level, it’s such a joy.”

This story includes reporting from WXXI Deputy Editor Jeremy Moule.