Lanae-Tava Thomas thought she was on the verge of living a dream almost a year ago.
One of Section V's all-time great high school track and field athletes while at Rush-Henrietta, Thomas qualified to run with the Jamaican national team at the 2023 World Athletics Championships. But Thomas never made it to Budapest.
Thomas' aspiration is again close to reality, and this time in the even larger spotlight on the Summer Olympics.
"I'm excited, I feel like it's a big honor," Thomas, 23, said. "It's always been a goal of mine. I've said that since I was little, 'I'm going to the Olympics.'
"It's a dream come true, and it's definitely an honor."
Thomas, who was inducted into the Section V Track and Field Hall of Fame in June, is in the women's 200-meter dash. The first heats at Stade de France to reduce the field of 49 sprinters are Aug. 4. Semifinals are the next day. The race for the gold medal is Aug. 6 at 3:40 p.m.
Gabby Thomas, Brittany Brown and McKenzie Long represent the United States. According to olympics.com, famous American sprinter Sha'carri Richardson also is entered in the event. There is a chance Thomas also becomes a member of Jamaica's 4 x 400 (1,600 relay).
"It has settled in," her father Lance Thomas said. "How she’s been running, I expected her to make it. It’s becoming real now that she actually made it.
"You never know with expectations. Sometimes, what your expectation and what really happens doesn’t line up."
Lanae-Tava Thomas: So why Jamaica?
Lanae-Tava Thomas was born in Kingston, the capital of Jamaica. She moved to the United States at the age of 11. Thomas was on the Rush-Henrietta varsity track and field team as an eighth-grader.
By the time Thomas graduated from R-H in 2018, she held or shared one state and five Section V records. She won 24 first-place state champion medals and was named a Democrat and Chronicle All-Greater Rochester indoor or outdoor athlete of the year three times.
"(R-H coach Mike) DeMay did expose her (to college coaches and other track and field followers), took her to the meets all over the place," Lance Thomas said.
Lance Thomas, Lanae-Tava's father, said current Penfield coach Aubrey Sheffield made an even larger impact as his daughter's sprints coach throughout high school. Lanae-Tava said Sheffield's influence has been father-like.
After high school, Thomas went off to University of Southern California, better known as USC, where she ran with two NCAA champion 4 x 100 (400) relays and was an All-American in the 100 dash. She closed her college career at University of Texas after a transfer. The Longhorns women's team won the 2023 NCAA national championship. Thomas was on the team as a graduate student. She was an All-American in the 200.
Last July, Thomas turned professional with an eye of making a name and living on the Diamond League circuit in Europe.
"Pretty special," DeMay said. "I feel special. Our school feels special and our community, Section V feels special. They (Thomas, sprinter Sammy Watson and race walker Miranda Melville) are a part of us, we feel it that’s for sure.
"I get butterflies watching even on that stage. That’s what keeps me going for coaching too, having that feeling."
Back during Thomas' freshman year at USC, Thomas won a gold medal with the United States at the Pan American Under 20 Championships in Costa Rica. Thomas said she later realized it would take years — in her case three — to complete a switch to represent Jamaica in international track and field.
"I’ve always wanted to run for Jamaica," she said.
Thomas appeared set to wear Jamaica's green, black and gold last August during the 2023 World championships in Budapest. But then she had to announce to family, friends and followers that there was an issue with her registration and did not go to Hungary.
Jamaica did send Thomas to Glasgow, Scotland, in March for the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships. She was on a 4 x 400 relay, but the team never finished the final race for the medals.
Lanae-Tava Thomas travels back to Jamaica often
Thomas lives in Austin, Texas, where it's convenient to train with Edrick Floreal, the University of Texas women's and men's coach. Floreal was an Olympian for Canada.
“I definitely go back to Jamaica more often, just about every month," Thomas said. "Most of my family is there, and I stay with them."
Thomas said she has and still feels welcomed by the Jamaican track and field community.
"As long as you know the culture and are respectful, they are fine," Thomas said. "They don't really love that (I train and live in the United States), but they were never not welcoming.
"They definitely tease you about it though."
June 30, it was time for Thomas to take the last steps in a track lane toward the Paris Olympics.
"I talked about it in high school, too," Thomas said. "I didn't really have a date on it, but it's always been a goal.
"I feel like I’ve never really told myself it was unattainable, so I feel like I was going to do it."
Thomas finished second to Shericka Jackson in the women's 200 during the Jamaican Olympic Trials.
"We had finish line tickets," Lance Thomas said. “She said, 'I made it, I can’t believe I have made it.' "
The dream was over, in a good way.
“When I got to college it was, 'Ok, I’m the right age to make it (to the Olympics)'," Thomas said. "It took a while, but (laughing) yeah.”
James Johnson, who grew up in the city of Rochester and is a graduate of Edison Tech in the Rochester City School District, has worked as a full-time journalist covering high school sports for the Democrat and Chronicle since 1996. Follow him @jjDandC on X (Twitter). You can contact him atJAMESJ@Gannett.com
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