Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (née Fraser; born December 27, 1986) is a retired Jamaican track and field sprinter who competed in the 60 metres, 100 m and 200 m. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest sprinters of all time.
One of the most enduring track athletes in history, Fraser-Pryce's career spanned over a decade and a half, from the late 2000s to the mid 2020s. Her success on the track, including her consistency at major championships, helped to usher in the golden age of Jamaican sprinting. In the 100 m, her signature event, she is a two-time Olympic gold medallist and a five-time world champion. In the 200 m, she has won gold and silver at the World Athletics Championships, as well as an Olympic silver medal.
An eight-time Olympic medallist, she rose from relative obscurity at the 2008 Beijing Olympics to become the first Caribbean woman to win gold in the 100 m. At the 2012 London Olympics, she became the third woman in history to defend an Olympic 100 m title. After injury affected her season, she won bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Thirteen years after her first Olympic win, she won a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, becoming the most decorated 100 m sprinter at the Olympic Games.
At the biennial World Athletics Championships, Fraser-Pryce is one of the most decorated athletes in history, winning ten gold, five silver medals and a bronze. She is the only sprinter to win five world titles in the 100 m—in 2009, 2013, 2015, 2019, and 2022. Her win in 2019 made her the first mother in 24 years to claim a global 100 m title, while her win in 2022 at age 35 made her the oldest sprinter ever to become world champion. In 2013, she became the first woman to sweep the 100 m, 200 m and 4 × 100 m at the same World Championship, and was voted the IAAF World Athlete of the Year. She also won the 60 m world indoor title in 2014, becoming the first ever female athlete to hold world titles in all four sprint events at the same time.
A dominant force in women's sprinting, Fraser-Pryce has won more individual global sprint titles than any other female sprinter in history, and is the most decorated 100 m sprinter of all time. Nicknamed the "pocket rocket" for her petite stature and explosive block starts, her personal best of 10.60 seconds makes her the third fastest woman ever. In 2022, CBC Sports recognized her as the greatest 100 m sprinter of all time, while many sources described her as the greatest female sprinter in history. In 2023, she won the Laureus World Sports Award for Sportswoman of the Year.
Biography Early years Shelly-Ann Fraser was born to Orane Fraser and Maxine Simpson in the inner city community of Waterhouse, in Kingston. She was raised with her two brothers by her mother, a former athlete who worked as a street vendor. A gifted sprinter from a very young age, she started running barefoot in primary school. Throughout her time at the Wolmer's High School for Girls, she was uncertain about pursuing a career in track and field. However, she was active on the youth athletics scene, competing in the famous Inter-Secondary Schools Boys and Girls Championships (known locally as "Champs"), and winning 100 m bronze at age 16. In 2002, she ran 25.35 s to win the 200 m title at the Jamaican Under-18 Championships, and later that year helped the Jamaican junior team win 4 × 100 m relay gold at the Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships, held in Bridgetown, Barbados. At the 2005 CARIFTA Games in Trinidad and Tobago, she won bronze in the 100 m in 11.73 s, and earned a gold medal as part of the 4 × 100 m relay team.
In 2006, Fraser-Pryce began studying at the University of Technology, Jamaica, where she met Stephen Francis. At the time, Francis was the head coach at the MVP (Maximising Velocity and Power) Track Club, and had guided the career of former 100 m world record holder Asafa Powell. Despite encouragement from peers and coaches, Fraser-Pryce was unfocused as a young athlete. She was often late for practice, and at times wouldn't complete her workouts for fear that she would become too muscular.
Fraser-Pryce began to achieve success on the senior national and international stages in 2007. At age 20, she was fifth in the 100 m at the Jamaican National Senior Championships in June, setting a new personal best of 11.31 s. Although a fifth-place finish meant that she was ineligible to compete in the 100 m event at the 2007 Osaka World Championships, she was selected as a reserve for Jamaica's 4 × 100 m relay team. Hoping to gain experience at an international level, she made her debut on the European athletics circuit in July and saw promising results. She first ran a wind-assisted 11.39 s for second place at the Budapest Iharos Memorial, followed by 11.44 s to win the Meeting Terra Sarda in Italy. In August, she again won the 100 m at the Stockholm DN-Galan, posting 11.57 s.
At the World Championships in September, Fraser-Pryce ran only in the relay heats, helping her team place second. She eventually earned a silver medal when the Jamaican team finished behind the United States in the 4 × 100 m relay final. Despite her initial anxiety towards competing at the World Championships, Fraser-Pryce credited her experience in Osaka for raising her confidence, changing her attitude towards athletics, and for making her much more focused.
2008: First Olympic 100 m gold Fraser-Pryce's breakthrough in 2008 was sudden and unexpected. At the Jamaican Olympic trials in June, she was a surprise second-place finisher in the hotly contested 100 m final, posting her first ever sub-11 s clocking of 10.85 s. Compatriots Kerron Stewart won the national title in 10.80 s and Sherone Simpson was third in 10.87 s, completing the Olympic team for this event. However, Jamaican sprint darling Veronica Campbell-Brown, the 2007 world 100 m champion and 2004 Olympic 200 m champion, finished fourth in 10.88 s, failing to make the team. With Fraser-Pryce barely known among the local athletics scene, many considered her too inexperienced for the Olympics, and petitioned the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) to have her swapped in favour of Campbell-Brown. However, the JAAA upheld its rule permitting only the top-three finishers on the team. Fraser-Pryce recalled being disappointed but mostly unfazed by the backlash, and saw her underdog status as an advantage: "I went in just wanting to do well. So there was no pressure and nobody expected anything of me and I was able to compete better, relaxed and be my best."
At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Fraser-Pryce faced off against the American trio of Torri Edwards, Muna Lee and decorated sprinter Lauryn Williams. She won her heat in 11.35 s, her quarterfinal in 11.06 s, and her semifinal in 11.00 s. In the 100 m final, she led a Jamaican sweep of the medals, trailed by Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart, who both posted 10.98 s for silver (no bronze was awarded). Replicating the success of compatriot Usain Bolt from the night before, Fraser-Pryce became the first ever Caribbean woman to win 100 m gold at the Olympics. Her winning time of 10.78 s was not only an improvement of 0.53 seconds from her previous season's best, it was also the second fastest in Olympic history at the time, behind Florence Griffith Joyner's 1988 Olympic record. Jamaica's top-three finish was the first-ever sweep of medals in a women's 100 m by any nation at an Olympics or World Championships.
In the 4 × 100 m relay, Fraser-Pryce ran the lead leg alongside Stewart, Simpson and Campbell-Brown. The Jamaican team won their heat and qualified as the fastest overall for the final. However, disappointment followed in the final when a botched baton exchange led to their disqualification.
Fraser-Pryce returned to the European circuit after the Olympics, placing second at the British Grand Prix in 11.29 s, first at the Athletissima track meet in 11.03 s, and first at the Rieti meet in 11.06 s. She capped her season in September after running 10.94 s to win 100 m gold at the 2008 IAAF World Athletics Final.
2009: First 100 m world title
The following year, Fraser-Pryce proved that she was no one-hit wonder by capturing 100 m gold at the 2009 Berlin World Championships. Despite ultimately taking the title, her early season was marred by injury, followed by an appendix surgery in April, which impeded her training and preparation. In June, she finished fourth at the Prefontaine Classic, but later that month, she ran a world-leading 10.88 s to claim her first 100 m national title at the Jamaican Championships, finishing ahead of defending champion Kerron Stewart (10.93 s). At the Rome Golden Gala in July, Stewart emerged as gold medal favourite after defeating Fraser-Pryce in 10.75 s, becoming the fifth fastest woman in history at the time.
At the World Championships in August, Fraser-Pryce finished second in her heat and quarterfinal, but came into form in the semifinal with 10.79 s, the fastest semifinal time in the history of the championship (at the time). In the 100 m final, she made a flying start and held off a late challenge from Stewart to win her first world title in a new personal best of 10.73 s. Sports writer Matthew Brown attributed her victory to "one of the most sensational starts ever seen in a major final... [she was] a metre and a half clear of the field before a tenth of the race was run." Stewart equalled her own personal best of 10.75 s for silver, while Carmelita Jeter of the United States (10.90 s) prevented another Jamaican podium sweep by beating Campbell-Brown (10.95 s) to the bronze. Fraser-Pryce's winning time made her the joint third fastest woman in history at the time, and shaved one-hundredth of a second from Merlene Ottey's Jamaican record. With the victory, she also joined Gail Devers of the U.S. as the second woman to hold the 100 m Olympic and world titles simultaneously (a feat she replicated in the 2012–2013 season). Giddy with excitement, Fraser-Pryce was shocked at her achievement: "Olympic and world champion – can you believe it? Me?" Asked whether she considered herself the favourite going into the final, she praised her rivals, saying, "That’s something I never do. The board is blank at the start. Everybody else wants it too." Days later, she added a second gold medal at the championships as part of Jamaica's 4 × 100 m relay team, running alongside Stewart, Simone Facey and Aleen Bailey.
Back on the international circuit that year, she finished fourth at the Zürich Weltklasse in 11.10 s, second at the Memorial Van Damme in 10.98 s, and first at the Rieti Meeting in 11.18 s. She ended her season in September following the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final, where she clocked 10.89 s for silver behind Jeter in the 100 m final.
2010–2011: Suspension and return In June 2010, Fraser-Pryce received a six-month suspension from athletics after a urine sample taken at the Shanghai Diamond League tested positive for oxycodone. Fraser-Pryce insisted that her positive result was due to medication her coach recommended for a toothache, and that she had neglected to properly declare it. Although oxycodone is banned as a narcotic, it is not considered performance enhancing or to be a masking agent. She later stated, 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." She resumed competition in January 2011, and her track results from 2010 were nullified.