By Yemi Babalola, Lagos
Today’s feature on Sport Amazon for the week is no other than Jamaican sprint star;Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce popularly called ‘Pocket Rocket’ due to her petite size.Shelly-Ann was born in Kingston Jamaica on27 December 1986. She was born into an impoverished and poor background in Jamaica, to a single mother who was working as a street vendor and could barely feed her family.
Shelly-Ann whose mother Maxine was a former athlete herself, picked interest in sport from an early age and by the time she graduated from High School in Kingston, she had positioned herself and prepared enough to go ahead and become a world-champion sprinter.
The first major success recorded in her sprinting history was her winning the 100-meter race in the Jamaican Schools Championships at the age of 16 in the year 2002.From where she proceeded to win Gold medal alongside compatriots, in the 4×100 meter relay at the 15th Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships held in the National Stadium in Bridgetown, Barbados.
Shelly-Ann’s professional racing career took off from the Beijing, China Olympics of 2008, though in 2007, she was part of the Jamaican World Championships relay squad (squad; Sheri-Ann Brooks, Kerron Stewart, Simone Facey, Veronica Campbell) and won a Silver medal in the heats, the competition was held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan. Shelly-Ann won her first ever Olympics Gold medal in 100-meter, becoming the first Jamaican woman in history to win a 100-meter Olympic Gold Medal.
Alongside fellow Jamaicans, they qualified for the 4×100 meter relay but did not finish the race due to mistake in the baton exchange. Her success continued at the IAAF World Athletics Final of 2008 held in Stuttgart Germany, where she won the Gold medal for 100-meter sprint.
In 2009, having won the Jamaican 100-meter title, Shelly-Ann was the first Jamaican qualifier for that year’s World Championship held in berlin, Germany. Where she won the Gold medal for the 100-meter relay and became at the time, the second fastest 100 meter time in World Championship history. Going on to win Gold in the 4×100 meter relay race alongside her compatriots, Simone Facey, Aleen Bailey and Kerron Stewart. Once again, dominating the 100-meter race where she won Gold in Thessaloniki, Greece at the IAAF World Athletics Final of 2009.Shelly-Ann was served a ban for six-month after a urine sample taken at the 2010 Shanghai Diamond League meeting contained Oxycodone (which was not a banned substance but she neglected declaring the medication on her doping control form.
However, Shelly-Ann came back in 2011 at the 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics held in Daegu, South Korea. Where she won Silver medal with her 4×100 meter relay squad, only losing to the United State squad.
At the London 2012 Olympics, Shelly-Ann defended her 100-meter race and did so convincingly in a keenly contested race, as the race was 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 medalist with her time of 10.81 and Tianna Bartoletta becoming the fastest ever non-medalist with her time of 10.85. Shelly-Ann also won Silver medal at the 200-meter race, which was her debut of such on a global race. As well earning a silver medal with her 4×100 meter relay race and setting a new national record time. Also winning the 2012 Diamond League overall Diamond Race Title in 100-meter.
This victorious momentum continued into 2013, as Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce became the first woman in World Championships history to sweep the sprint events when she anchored Jamaica to Gold in the 4×100 meter relay. The championships held in Moscow, Russia, saw Shelly-Ann also winning Gold Medals in the 100 and 200-meter race. She also won the 2013 Diamond League overall Diamond Race Title in 100 and 200 meter.
Shelly-Ann at the 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships held in Sopot, Poland won Gold medal in the 60-meter race. In addition, at the Commonwealth Games held in Glasgow, Scotland won Gold medal alongside her compatriots (Kerron Stewart, Veronica Campbell-Brown, and Schillonie Calvert) in the 4×100-meter relay.
In 2015, at the World Championships in Beijing, China Shelly-Ann proved again why many considered her the 100-meter Queen, she won Gold medal in the 100-meter race, to become the first woman in history to win three 100-meter world championship titles. Prior to the 2015 World Championships, Shelly-Ann 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. also championing her women’s 4×100-meter squad, which includes, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Natasha Morrison and Elaine Thompson, to gold in the second fastest time ever of 41.07, breaking the record for the second World Championships in a row. She capped up 2015, by winning the 2015 Diamond League overall Diamond Race Title in 100-meter.
The 2016 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Olympics held a lot of appeal to Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce as she was aiming to replicate her previous Olympics success and make history (winning Gold medals in 3 consecutive Olympics just like male compatriot Usain Bolt) at almost age 30. However, a toe injury, which had affected her performance all through the year, hindered her performance and she could only settle for Bronze medal in the 100-meter race losing to compatriots Elaine Thompson and American Tori Bowie. She also won Silver medal with Christania Williams, Elaine Thompson and Veronica Campbell-Brown in the 4×100-meter relay.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryse is recognized both home and abroad, as 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. Shelly was nominated for the Laureus World Sports Award for Sportswoman of the Year on four occasions: 2010, 2013, 2014 and 2016, though yet to win it.Shelly-Ann won the IAAF World Athlete of the Year award in the year 2013, becoming the first Jamaican woman to win since Merlene Ottey in 1990.
Shelly-Ann got married in 2011 to Jason Pryse; they currently have a son born in August 2017 and named Zyon. She holds a Bachelor degree of Science in Child and Adolescent Development. She is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Applied Psychology at the University of West Indies.
Two-time Olympic 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce plans to return in 2018, as she is not considering retiring anytime soon. Shelly-Ann is fond of saying, ‘The plan is to always start properly and execute a good race.’ Looking at her career, there is no doubt that she did start properly and is executing her plan well.
