Dr. Cynthia Thompson (1928 – 2019) was a Jamaican paediatrician who worked in private practice until her retirement in 2000 following a career at the Bustamante Hospital for Children, which started in 1966 when she returned home from medical school in Nashville. She is best known however for her first career, as an athlete - the first Jamaican woman to compete as a finalist in the Olympics (in the 100 metres). She was in fact, the only woman of colour in that race. Dr. Thompson attended St. Hugh’s High School in Kingston, where her athletic prowess and speed were discovered. After school, she continued as an athlete and won gold in the 100 metres in her first international appearance in the 5th Central American and Caribbean Games in Colombia in 1946. Young Cynthia continued with this trajectory until she became one of the 4 women in Jamaica’s 13 competitor team to its first Olympics in 1948. Whilst this Olympics is best remembered for the winning performance of our men in the 800 and 400 metre races, Cynthia was a trailblazer for female Jamaican sprinters as she placed and ran in the 100 metre finals and 200 metre semi-finals, despite illness and loss of weight on the long journey to London by ship. After the Olympics she moved to Nashville to join the Tennessee State University athletics programme and continued to represent Jamaica at regional events. After studying science, she eventually retired from athletics and pursued a medical career, specializing in paediatrics at the Meharry Medical College in Nashville. In 2004, Dr. Thompson was inducted into the Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association Hall of Fame for her exceptional contribution to Jamaican sport and her groundbreaking achievement at the 1948 Olympics. In 2017, Dr. Thompson and Olympian Rupert Hoilett were honoured as trailblazers by the Olympians Association of Jamaica (OAJ), now the National Association of Jamaican Olympians (NAJO). She was also inducted into the Hall of Fame at theTennessee State University.