Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce

Fraser-Pryce in 2015
Personal information
Nationality	Jamaican
Born	(1986-12-27) 27 December 1986 Kingston, Jamaica
Height	1.52 m (5 ft 0 in)
Weight	52 kg (115 lb)
Sport
Country	Jamaica
Sport	Track and field
Event	Sprint
Club	MVP Track & Field Club
Achievements and titles
Personal bests	60 m (i): 6.98 100 m: 10.70 =NR 200 m: 22.09
Medal record Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 2 3 1 World Championships 9 2 0 World Indoor Championships 1 0 0 World Athletics Final 1 1 0 Pan American Games 1 0 0 Commonwealth Games 1 0 0 CARIFTA Games Junior (U20) 1 0 1 CAC Junior Championships (U17) 1 0 0 Total 17 6 2 Women's athletics Representing Jamaica Olympic Games 2008 Beijing 100 m 2012 London 100 m 2012 London 200 m 2012 London 4×100 m relay 2016 Rio de Janeiro 4×100 m relay 2016 Rio de Janeiro 100 m World Championships 2009 Berlin 100 m 2009 Berlin 4×100 m relay 2013 Moscow 100 m 2013 Moscow 200 m 2013 Moscow 4×100 m relay 2015 Beijing 100 m 2015 Beijing 4×100 m relay 2019 Doha 100 m 2019 Doha 4×100 m relay 2007 Osaka 4×100 m relay 2011 Daegu 4×100 m relay World Indoor Championships 2014 Sopot 60 m World Athletics Final 2008 Stuttgart 100 m 2009 Thessaloniki 100 m Commonwealth Games 2014 Glasgow 4×100 m relay NACAC Championships 2018 Toronto 4×100 m relay Pan American Games 2019 Lima 200 m

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, OD (née Fraser, born 27 December 1986) is a Jamaican track and field sprinter. Born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, Fraser-Pryce ascended to prominence in 2008 when at 21 years old, the relatively unknown athlete became the first Caribbean woman to win 100 m gold at the Olympics. In 2012, she became the third woman in history to successfully defend an Olympic 100 m title. Fraser-Pryce took a break from athletics in 2017 to have her first child. At the 2019 World Championships, at the age of 32, she became the oldest woman and second mother ever to win 100 m gold at a global championship.

Fraser-Pryce is the only sprinter in history to be crowned world champion over 100 m four times (2009, 2013, 2015 and 2019). Since 2008, she has won four of the five World Championship 100 m titles she has contested, as well as two of the last three Olympic 100 m titles. The only woman to achieve a "sprint triple" at a single World Championship (gold in the 100 m, 200 m and 4 × 100 m in 2013), she is also the only female sprinter to reign as world champion at 60 m, 100 m, 200 m and 4 × 100 m relay at the same time. In 2013, she was named World Athlete of the Year.

With over a decade of dominance in athletics, Fraser-Pryce has won more global 100 m titles than any other female sprinter in history. Nicknamed the "Pocket Rocket" for her petite frame (she stands 5 feet tall) and explosive block starts, her personal best of 10.70 seconds is the joint fourth fastest of all time. Due to her achievements and consistency, many publications and sports analysts, including former Olympian Michael Johnson, refer to Fraser-Pryce as the greatest female sprinter of all time. World Athletics calls her “the greatest female sprinter of her generation".

Early life

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was born in Kingston, Jamaica, on 27 December 1986. She grew up in the community of Waterhouse, Kingston, describing her own family background as poor. Her mother Maxine, a former athlete herself, was a single parent whose street vending job sometimes barely earned enough to buy them an evening meal. When speaking at the Christmas lunch at the South Camp Juvenile Correctional and Remand Centre for Girls last year, she referred to her difficult start in life, saying: “I suffered from self-esteem issues because I didn’t have the nice clothes and the nice house and had to take the bus. I wanted to fit in and would make up stories just to be accepted, so I can relate to the issues related to poverty.”

After graduating from Wolmer's High School for Girls in Kingston, she went on to become a world-champion sprinter, specializing in the 100-meter run. Her first sprinting success was in the famous Jamaican Schools Championships, winning the 100 m aged 16. She recalls the pressure of the event: “Our championships in Jamaica are intense. The crowds are verbal … and you will hear them shout ‘make sure you win!’ and ‘beat that girl in lane three!’ It is very hostile and something we get used to.”

In 2007, she was in the Jamaican World Championships relay squad, earning a silver medal by running in the heats, but she did not make the team in the individual event until the following year. Even then she went to the Beijing Olympics without expectations.

Career

Rise to prominence: 2008 Olympics—2009 World Championships

Fraser (right) celebrating victory in Berlin with Kerron Stewart

Fraser, who trained for the Olympics with teammate Asafa Powell,she became the first Jamaican woman in history to win an Olympic gold medal in the 100 m sprint. In her first round heat, she placed first in a time of 11.35 to advance to the second round. She then improved her time to 11.06 seconds, finishing first in her heat. In the semi-finals Fraser again finished in front, outsprinting Kerron Stewart and Muna Lee in 11.00 seconds.

In the final, Jamaican sprinters finished in the top three positions in the race, with a photographic tie for second place by Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart. (Both women were awarded silver medals; no bronze medal was awarded.) Fraser's time of 10.78 seconds was a personal best and 0.20 seconds faster than her Jamaican teammates. Fraser's Olympic time was the second-fastest 100 m ever recorded by a Jamaican woman, a mere 0.04 seconds (1/25 of a second) shy of Merlene Ottey's 10.74 record.

Together with Sheri-Ann Brooks, Aleen Bailey and Veronica Campbell-Brown, Fraser also took part in the 4 × 100 m relay. In its first-round heat, Jamaica placed first in front of Russia, Germany and China. The Jamaica relay's time of 42.24 seconds was the first time overall out of sixteen participating nations. With this result, Jamaica qualified for the final, replacing Brooks and Bailey with Simpson and Stewart. Jamaica did not finish the race due to a mistake in the baton exchange.

Fraser took the 100 m Jamaican title in June 2009, winning with a world-leading time of 10.88  against a strong headwind (−1.5 m/s). This made her the number one Jamaican qualifier for the 2009 World Championships. Fraser took full advantage, holding off a late surge (and personal best) from compatriot Kerron Stewart, who had a slow start, to win by two one-hundredths of a second in a time of 10.73 – the fourth fastest time in the event's history and a Jamaican national record. It was also, at the time, the second fastest 100 m time in World Championship history.

She later ran the second leg for Jamaica in both the heats and the final of the 4 × 100 m relay. In the heats, Jamaica ran a very quick 41.88, their second fastest performance ever at the time. In the final, Fraser ran an outstanding back-straight, outrunning athletes like Chandra Sturrup of the Bahamas, Anne Mollinger of Germany and Kelly-Ann Baptiste of Trinidad and Tobago, with a successful change over to Aleen Bailey. However, with the USA's earlier disqualification, the team employed very safe handovers, and went on to claim the gold medal in a time of 42.06. The Bahamas claimed silver and Germany claimed bronze.

2010 Suspension and 2011 World Championships

Fraser-Pryce served a six-month ban from athletics after a urine sample taken at the 2010 Shanghai Diamond League meeting was found to contain Oxycodone. Oxycodone is a painkiller that is not considered to improve performance, nor does the WADA Code consider it a masking agent for other drugs. Stephen Francis, Fraser-Pryce's coach, reportedly recommended the painkiller to her after she complained of a toothache, and she neglected to declare the medication on her doping control form in what she has described as a simple clerical error. However, Fraser-Pryce has acknowledged responsibility for her actions; "I'm a professional athlete – one who's supposed to set examples – so whatever it is I put in my body it's up to me to take responsibility for it and I have done that".

After battling a Calf injury through the season, she managed to finish fourth in the women's 100m final in 10.99, she then lead-off Jamaica's women's silver medal team in 41.71, then a national record.

Career highs: 2012 Olympics and 2013 World Championships

Leading into the 2012 Summer Olympics, Fraser-Pryce won the 100 m and 200 m at the Jamaican Olympic Trials. In doing so, she improved her national record in the 100 m to 10.70, and set a personal best of 22.10 in the 200 m.

At the Games, Fraser-Pryce successfully defended her 100 m title with a time of 10.75 seconds, the second fastest Olympic 100 m time ever run by a woman. American rival Carmelita Jeter was beaten into second place, with fellow Jamaican Veronica Campbell-Brown taking bronze. It was, collectively, the fastest women's 100 m final ever: an unprecedented 7 women ran 11 seconds or faster, with Veronica Campbell-Brown becoming the fastest ever bronze medallist with her time of 10.81 and Tianna Bartoletta becoming the fastest ever non-medallist with her time of 10.85.

In her first year contesting the 200 m at a global championship, Fraser-Pryce set another personal best of 22.09 to win the Olympic silver medal behind Allyson Felix. She also ran the first leg for her team in the 4 × 100 m relay, earning a second silver medal and setting a new national record time of 41.41 in the process.

Fraser-Pryce at the 2013 World Championships

Fraser-Pryce entered the World Championships in Moscow with world-leading times in both the 100 m and the 200 m. She won the 100 m race in a new world-leading time of 10.71 into a −0.3 headwind, the second fastest 100 m ever run at the world championships. Her margin of victory was a 0.22 seconds, the largest in world championship history. Fraser-Pryce then went on to win the 200 m title in a 22.17s, a time only she had bettered that entire year. It was Fraser-Pryce's first major title over that distance, and she became the first person to complete the 100 m/200 m double in 22 years. Fraser-Pryce and fellow Jamaican athlete Usain Bolt swept the sprinting events for their respective genders at the meet, winning three gold medals each in the 100 m, 200 m and 4 × 100 m.

As the anchor runner for Jamaica's 4 × 100 m relay team, Fraser-Pryce won her third gold medal of the World Championships with teammates Carrie Russell, Kerron Stewart and Schillonie Calvert. Winning by 1.46 seconds over the American team, who were awarded silver medals after the French team was disqualified for a lane infringement. Jamaica's winning time of 41.29 set a new championship record and was, at the time, the second fastest women's 4 × 100 m time ever. Fraser-Pryce's blazing anchor leg was timed at 9.76, one of the fastest in history.

Fraser-Pryce's dominance of both sprint events extended beyond the World Championships. She boasted the three fastest times of the year in the 100 m and the two fastest in the 200 m. She won six Diamond League races, four 100 m, and two 200 m, to claim both the 100 m and 200 m Diamond League titles for 2013. In doing so, she became the only person, male or female, to simultaneously hold the World Championship and Diamond League titles in both the 100 m and 200 m.

Fraser-Pryce made her World Indoor Championships debut in Sopot, 2014. She won the indoor 60 m title in a time of 6.98, making her the 7th fastest of all time at the distance. This was all despite not training specifically for the event; "I’m still preparing for my outdoor season so nothing special for the 60m. I just came here and wasn't prepared for the 60m," she revealed.

Owing to her achievements on the track in 2013, she was named IAAF World Athlete of the Year.

2015 World Championships — 2016 Rio Olympics

Fraser-Pryce in 2015

Prior to the 2015 World Championships, Fraser-Pryce had set a world-leading 100 m time of 10.74 in Paris and had won the Jamaican trials in a time of 10.79. Her coach had made the decision to focus on the 100 m rather than attempt to defend her 200 m title in Beijing. Entering the World Championships as the favorite, she won the 100 m in a time of 10.76, defending her title and becoming the first woman in history to win three 100 m world championships titles.

Fraser-Pryce also anchored the Jamaican women's 4 × 100 m team, consisting of Veronica Campbell-Brown, Natasha Morrison and Elaine Thompson, to gold in the second fastest time ever of 41.07, breaking the championship record for the second World Championships in a row. Receiving the baton in leading position after strong performances by her teammates, she ran a blistering anchor leg to put even further distance between herself and the USA's anchor Jasmine Todd.

Going into the 2016 Summer Olympics, Fraser-Pryce was aiming to become the first woman to win three consecutive 100 m Olympic titles. However, she had been plagued by a toe injury, which was hampering her performances all season. She qualified as joint fastest for the final of the 100 metres with countrywoman Elaine Thompson, in a time of 10.88 seconds. However, she was in notable pain after her semi-final, grimacing and limping off the track. In the final only an hour and a half later, Fraser-Pryce finished third, behind Thompson and Tori Bowie in a season-best time of 10.86 seconds.

Return from maternity break and 2019 World Championships

Fraser-Pryce returned to competition in the 2019 Jamaican trials, two years after the birth of her son. At the Jamaican trials she finished second to current Olympic Champion Elaine Thompson, both running a world-leading time of 10.73 seconds. Fraser-Pryce’s 10.73 in this race became the fastest non-winning time in history. At the 2019 World Championships, Fraser-Pryce became the oldest woman to win a 100 meter World or Olympic title, winning in a time of 10.71 seconds. The victory marked her fourth 100m world title and eighth world title overall.

Technique and running style

Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce wins 100m women in World Athletics Championships BEIJING 2015.

Fraser-Pryce’s explosive and compact running form has earned her the nickname "Pocket Rocket." Describing her block start in the 2012 Olympic 100m final, David Epstein of Sports Illustrated wrote that she “shot out of the blocks at an angle so low, upon replay, it was difficult to believe she actually got a foot out in time to prevent a face plant.” After the “low-angle explosion”, there’s a “smooth and speedy transition into her drive phase.”

Fraser-Pryce’s quick acceleration into her drive phase has contributed to her dominance on the track. Steve Landell, writing for World Athletics, stated that she has an “uncanny ability to reach top speed quicker than her rivals out of the blocks.” In studying the biomechanics of the sprinters in the 2009 World Championship 100m final, Rolf Graubner and Eberhard Nixdorf wrote, "Fraser-Price had a very high acceleration ability, which is particularly clear in the calculated 30m time of 4.02 seconds – a value that is almost at the same level as that of male sprinters with a performance ability in the 10.40-10.60 seconds range."

A writer for Nike News describes her as a “stride-rate runner" whose “game is bolting to the lead (maximum velocity) and then fighting (maintenance) to keep her position through to the finish...[she] knows she’s unbeatable through 70 meters. But between that point in the race and 80 meters is when she’s got to battle to maintain her lead.”

A diminutive sprinter compared to her competitors, she relies on cadence and stride frequency (leg turnover/speed) in her races (as opposed to stride length). On average, she takes 51 steps to complete the 100m (equivalent to two metres per step).

Personal life, charities and business ventures

Fraser-Pryce is a committed Christian. In November 2012, she graduated from the University of Technology with her Bachelor of Science Degree in Child and Adolescent Development. In 2016, she announced that she would be pursuing a Master of Science Degree in Applied Psychology at the University of West Indies starting in September.

She has supported many causes throughout her career. In 2010, she was named as the first UNICEF National Goodwill Ambassador for Jamaica on 22 February 2010. On 23 February 2010, she was also named Grace Goodwill Ambassador for Peace for 2010 in a partnership with Grace Foods and not-for-profit Organisation PALS (Peace and Love in Society).

Fraser-Pryce created the Pocket Rocket Foundation, a scheme which supports high school athletes in difficult financial situations to get a proper education and keep on training. "As a chairman of the foundation I believe not only in issuing cheques to schools, but also in following up with the kids, being there for them emotionally, getting to understand what's going on with them at school", Shelly-Ann explained. In May 2016 she held a silent auction which raised over $4 million for the foundation.

In January 2011, Fraser-Pryce married long-term boyfriend Jason Pryce, changing her surname. In March 2017, she announced that she would be missing the 2017 season due to pregnancy. On her Facebook account, she wrote, "All my focus heading into training for my 2017 season was on getting healthy and putting myself in the best possible fitness to successfully defend my title in London 2017, but life is filled with many blessings with God, so here I am thinking about being the greatest mother I can be with my biggest blessing and the promise God made me." On 7 August 2017, Shelly and her husband welcomed their first child, a boy named Zyon.

Fraser-Pryce is known for frequently changing her hairstyle during track season, including a dyed pink look during the Moscow World Championships, yellow and green during the 2016 Olympics, and pastel rainbow during the 2019 100m finals in Doha. In 2013, she launched her own hair business, a hair salon named Chic Hair Ja.

Special awards and achievements

Special awards

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce has been the recipient of numerous accolades in her home country of Jamaica. She has won the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association's Golden Cleats Award for female Athlete of the Year on four occasions: 2009, 2012, 2013 and 2015. She has also received the RJR National Sportswoman of the Year award three times, in 2012, 2013 and 2015.

She has been nominated for the Laureus World Sports Award for Sportswoman of the Year on four occasions: 2010, 2013, 2014 and 2016. The award is held annually, to celebrate the most remarkable men and woman around the world on their achievements in the previous calendar year, with the winners being determined by votes cast by an association of 62 of the world's greatest retired sporting legends.

After her outstanding 2013 season, Fraser-Pryce was named IAAF World Athlete of the Year, becoming the first Jamaican woman to win since Merlene Ottey in 1990. In accepting her award, she exclaimed, "I'm shocked and excited. It's something that has been a dream of mine. Not all the time do things happen that we want to happen, but this did."

International competitions

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing Jamaica
2002	Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships (U-17)	Bridgetown, Barbados	4th	200 m	25.24 (−1.0 m/s)
			1st	4×100 m relay	45.33 CR
2005	CARIFTA Games (U-20)	Bacolet, Trinidad and Tobago	3rd	100 m	11.73 (+0.9 m/s)
			1st	4×100 m relay	44.53
2007	World Championships	Osaka, Japan	2nd	4×100 m relay	42.70 SB
2008	Olympic Games	Beijing, China	1st	100 m	10.78 PB (±0.0 m/s)
			DNF	4×100 m relay	Dropped baton
2009	World Championships	Berlin, Germany	1st	100 m	10.73 NR (+0.1 m/s)
			1st	4×100 m relay	42.06
2011	World Championships	Daegu, Korea	4th	100 m	10.99 (−1.4 m/s)
			2nd	4×100 m relay	41.70 NR
2012	Olympic Games	London, Great Britain	1st	100 m	10.75 (+1.5 m/s)
			2nd	200 m	22.09 PB (−0.2 m/s)
			2nd	4×100 m relay	41.41 NR
2013	World Championships	Moscow, Russia	1st	100 m	10.71 WL (−0.3 m/s)
			1st	200 m	22.17 (−0.3 m/s)
			1st	4×100 m relay	41.29 CR
2014	World Indoor Championships	Sopot, Poland	1st	60 m	6.98 WL PB
	Commonwealth Games	Glasgow, Scotland	1st	4×100 m relay	41.83 GR
2015	World Championships	Beijing, China	1st	100 m	10.76 (−0.3 m/s)
			1st	4×100 m relay	41.07 CR
2016	Olympic Games	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	3rd	100 m	10.86 SB (+0.5 m/s)
			2nd	4×100 m relay	41.36 SB
2018	NACAC Championships	Toronto, Canada	5th	100 m	11.18
			2nd	4×100 m relay	43.33
2019	World Relays	Yokohama, Japan	3rd	4×200 m relay	1:33.21
	Pan American Games	Lima, Peru	1st	200 m	22.43
	World Championships	Doha, Qatar	1st	100 m	10.71 SB (+0.1 m/s)
			1st	4×100 m relay	41.44 WL

Circuit wins

• Diamond League (100 m; Other events specified in parenthesis)
  • Overall winner: 2012, 2013 (100 m & 200 m), 2015
  • New York: 2012
  • Zürich: 2012, 2013 (200 m), 2015 (100 m & 4×100 m relay)
  • Doha: 2013 (200 m), 2014
  • Shanghai: 2013
  • Eugene: 2013, 2015
  • Paris: 2013, 2015
  • Brussels: 2013
  • Stockholm: 2015
  • London: 2018, 2019 (100 m & 4×100 m relay)
  • Lausanne: 2019

• World Indoor Tour (60 m)
  • Glasgow: 2020

National titles

• Jamaican Championships
  • 2009: 100 m
  • 2012: 100 m, 200 m
  • 2013: 200 m
  • 2015: 100 m
• Jamaican U18 Championships
  • 2002: 200 m

Personal bests

Type	Event	Time	Date	Place	Notes
Outdoor	100 metres	10.70 (+0.6)	29 June 2012	Kingston, Jamaica	NR, 4th of all time
	200 metres	22.09 (−0.2)	8 August 2012	London, United Kingdom
	400 metres	54.93	5 March 2011	Kingston, Jamaica
Indoor	60 metres	6.98	9 March 2014	Sopot, Poland	8th of all time

• All information taken from World Athletics profile.

Further reading

• Lee, Jimson. "Asafa Powell Coach Stephen Francis Coaching Seminar". Speed Endurance.com. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
• Census data available. "Oxycodone". Drugs.com. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
• Jones, Ryon. "Fraser-Pryce, Bolt Win Golden Cleats Awards". Gleaner Company. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
• Census data revisited. "Usain Bolt, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce shortlisted for Laureus Award". NDTV Sports. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
• Census data revisited. "Usain Bolt, Jessica Ennis Win top Honours at Laureus Sports Award". NDTV Sports. Archived from the original on 11 April 2013. Retrieved 1 April 2013.

External links

• Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce at World Athletics
• Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)