Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce: Jamaican sprint legend to retire after the 2024 Paris Olympics

56 minutes ago

image source, Getty Images

image description,

Fraser-Pryce is the only sprinter to win the 100m title at the World Championships five times

Three-time Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce says she “owes it” to her family to retire after the 2024 Games.

The 37-year-old is considered one of the greatest sprinters of all time, winning the 100 meters title in 2008 and 2012.

Jamaican Fraser-Pryce also won relay gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and three of her 10 world titles in a comeback after giving birth to her son in 2017.

“There's never a day that I get up to workout and think, 'I'm over this,'” she told Essence.com.

“My husband and I were together before I won in 2008. He sacrificed himself for me.”

“We are a partnership, a team. And thanks to this support I can do the things I have done all these years. And I think I owe it to them now to do something different.”

She added that this year's Paris Olympics were about “showing people that when you make up your mind, you stop. I want to finish on my own terms.”

In total, Fraser-Pryce has won three Olympic gold medals, four silver medals and one bronze medal.

She won world bronze at last summer's world championships behind American Sha'Carri Richardson and teammate Shericka Jackson and will remain a key contender at Paris 2024 in July and August.

With her win in Doha in 2019, she became the oldest woman to win the 100m world title and extended that record by winning again in Eugene in 2022 at the age of 35 – 14 years after her first Olympic gold.

“You can make a difference, and it’s important to show people that you can’t be selfish,” she said.

“It’s not enough that we go out on the track and win medals. You have to think about the next generation that comes after you and give them the opportunity to dream too – and dream big.”

Fraser-Pryce's World and Olympic medal wins

• Three gold medals: 100 m (2008, 2012), 4×100 m relay (2020)
• Four silver medals: 100 m (2020), 200 m (2012), 4×100 m relay (2012, 2016)
• A bronze medal: 100 m (2016)

• 10 Gold: 100 m (2009, 2013, 2015, 2019, 2022), 200 m (2013), 4×100 m relay (2009, 2013, 2015, 2019)
• Five silver medals: 200 m (2022), 4×100 m relay (2007, 2011, 2022, 2023)
• A bronze medal: 100 m (2023)