Shelly Ann Fraser biography

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is a Jamaican athlete who is considered one of the best sprinters in the world. She was born on December 27, 1986, in Kingston, Jamaica. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Olympics, she won gold medals in the 100-meter race. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (delayed until 2021), she won a silver medal in the same race.

Fraser grew up in Kingston, Jamaica’s Waterhouse neighborhood, which is poor and often violent. Her mother earned a living as an unlicensed street vendor and raised her and her two brothers. Fraser sometimes participated in track and field events in elementary school, beginning when he was 10 years old. She ran 100 meters in 11.57 seconds when she was in high school, which was pretty impressive for a 16-year-old girl. Also Shelly Ann Fraser earned a silver medal at the world championships for her run in the heats of the 4×100-meter relay in 2007, while she was still a student at the University of Technology in Kingston. She also improved her best time to 11.31 seconds and finished fifth overall.

Despite being taught by Stephen Francis, who had assisted Jamaica’s Asafa Powell in setting four world records in the 100-meter race for men, Fraser’s big break in 2008 came unexpectedly. At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, she won gold in the 100 meters with a time of 10.78 seconds. A reporter called her the “Pocket Rocket” because she was so short—only 5 feet 3 inches (1.6 meters)—more than 1 foot (30 cm) shorter than her famous male partner, the world-record-setting sprinter Usain Bolt. She ran a personal best of 10.73 seconds to win the 100-meter world title at the 2009 championships. She also ran on Jamaica’s winning 4 x 100-meter relay team. Fraser missed most of the 2010 season because he was banned for six months for using drugs. She said Francis had given her the drug—which is illegal but is not considered to improve performance—to ease the pain of oral surgery.

Fraser married her longtime boyfriend Jason Pryce in January 2012. She set a new personal best time of 10.70 seconds at the London Games later that same year, making her the third woman to win the 100-meter title twice in a row. Then, at a major competition, she ran the 200 meters for the first time. Allyson Felix, of the United States, defeated her to win the silver. A member of the 4 x 100-meter relay, Fraser-Pryce also won a silver medal.

Fraser-Pryce won the 100-meter race for women at the 2013 world championships in 10.71 seconds. After four days, she won gold in the 200 meters in 22.17 seconds, making her only the third woman to do so. She led Jamaica’s team, which took home the gold in the women’s 4 × 100-meter relay. The International Association of Athletics Federations named Fraser-Pryce its 2013 Woman Athlete of the Year at the end of the season.

At the 2015 world championships, Fraser-Pryce won gold medals in the 100-meter event and as a member of Jamaica’s 4 × 100-meter relay team. She was the first woman in the history of the world championships to win three 100-meter golds. She trained hard even though she hurt her toe and won silver in the 4 × 100-meter relay and bronze in the 100-meter sprint at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Early in 2017, Fraser-Pryce said she was pregnant. In August, Shelly Ann Fraser gave birth to a boy, and she didn’t compete again until the next year. She won her fourth title in the 100 meters at the 2019 world championships and was a member of the 4 x 100-meter relay team that won the gold. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics had to be moved to 2021. This was her next big event. She won a gold medal in the 4×100-meter relay and a silver medal in the 100 meters.

Fraser-Pryce won the 100-meter race again at the 2022 world championships, and she also won silver medals in the 200-meter relay and the 4×100-meter relay. The next year, she missed a few months because she hurt her knee. She was able to participate at the 2023 world championships, though, and won third place in the 100 meters. She was also a member of the 4 x 100-meter relay that won the gold. After the games, Fraser-Pryce said she would be stopping after the 2024 Games in Paris. She qualified for the 100-meter quarterfinal at those Games, but she had to drop out of the race because of an injury she got while warming up.