BREAKING NEWS: ESPN nominated Shelly Ann Fraser as one of the best athletes of the century
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce CD OD OJ OLY (née Fraser; born December 27, 1986) is a Jamaican track and field sprinter competing 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 spans over a decade and a half, from the late 2000s to the 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, becoming 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,[4] while her win in 2022 at age 35 made her the oldest sprinter ever to become world champion.[5] 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.[6]
A dominant force in women’s sprinting, Fraser-Pryce has won more individual global[note 2] sprint titles than any other female sprinter in history,[7][8] and is the most decorated 100 m sprinter of all time.[5] 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,[9] while many sources, including Athletics Weekly, described her as the greatest female sprinter in history.[1][10][11][12][13] In 2023, she won the Laureus World Sports Award for Sportswoman of the Year.
Leave a Reply