27/09/2025
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce : A career worthy of emulation
There are moments in Sports that every nation wishes a particular athlete represented them.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is such an athlete, but these desires don't come when the athlete is still unknown.
She entered the global stage as a reserve in 2007 in Japan as part of the 1,817 athletes in Osaka at the World Championships.
Though she got a silver medal in the 4x100m among the notables like Veronica Campbell but no worthy mention of her name.
Then she was just Shelly-Ann Fraser.
From relative obscurity to global stardom, what can be more surprising in athletics at the Beijing Olympics?
85 competitors from 69 nations participated in women's 100m events at the 29th Olympic Games, Against all analysis, forecast and predictions for the race, the fifth foot athlete won the gold medal in a personal best of 10.78s
Though the winning margin was 0.20 seconds, Jamaicans dominated the podium as no bronze medal was awarded officially as both Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart finished in a time of 10.98s.
The victory for the young lady made her the first woman from the Caribbean to win the 100m Gold at the Olympics.
If winning the 100m Gold was a shock, how can we describe what happened four years after at the London 2012 Summer Olympics?
Phenomenal, Magnificent, Unequalled, name it
Before London 2012, there was only one female athlete that has defended the women's 100m final at the Olympics, America's Gails Devers became the first at the Atlanta 96 Olympics after defending the title, she won at the Barcelona 92.
16 years later, In lane 6 at Olympics stadium in London , stood Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce , now married , beside her in lane 7 is Nigeria's Blessing Okagbare , the race is one of the most competitive women's 100 race in history as a record number of six competitors bettered the 11 seconds barrier in an Olympic final for the first time.
It was a knife edge finish as the Jamaica won in 10.70s , 0.03s of America's Carmelita Jeter , whom the former picked as her greatest and fearful rival in her career , while Veronica Campbell-Brown finished third in 10.81s
The race witnessed several personal best times with the USA's duo of Tianna Madison and Allyson Felix, who finished in fourth and fifth respectively.
After the victory, the Jamaican became the second woman to defend the 100m at the Olympics , the two Africans in the highly competitive lineup finished seventh and eighth respectively .
Known as the 'The Pocket Rocket', the diminutive five-foot tall went on in her Olympics career to win a total of 3 Gold , 4 Silver and a bronze medal.
At the Lussiane Diamond League in Switzerland in 2021, the Jamaican recorded the third fastest time in the history of the women's 100m in a time of 10.60s to become the third fastest woman in the 100m behind compatriot Elaine Thompson-Herah(10.54s) and USA's Florence Griffith-Joyner (10.49s).
Her World Championships success was a remarkable journey , at the 2019 World Championships, Fraser-Pryce made history by becoming the first mother and the oldest woman to win the 100m sprint .
At the end of her career , which was at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo a few weeks ago, the pride of the Caribbean has a vault full of medals that includes, 10 Gold, 6 silver and one bronze medal.
Welcome Melissa Jefferson-Wooden of the United States , Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia and Jamaica’s Tina Clayton.
