This is one of Stuart Weir’s two columns this week. It is a fun one. SAFP is one of the most sucessful and colorful athletes in our sport. She is also one of the most resiliant athletes in our sport.
She is also a lot of fun to interview as Stuart Weir attests.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, London 2012, photo by Martin Bateman
Veronica Campbell-Brown, Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce, Carmelita Jeter, photo by Martin Bateman
Shelly-Ann – Olympics past and present
In an interview for www.skysports.com, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce gave her reaction to the postponement of the 2020 Olympics. “Immediately I was devastated. I have been honored and am grateful to have been able to go to three Olympics so far but I am 33 and this will be my last Olympics. My reaction was ‘Whao’. My plans have just gone bang. The 2022 World Championships could definitely be my last games and major competition. What a way to finish, close to home! It is very expensive for my family and friends to travel to Tokyo but with the World Championships being in Oregon, it is right there. When I got pregnant and was turning 30, I was mortified, but I have always been driven and motivated and when that the opportunity came after I had my son, I started going back to practice. To be able to come away with that victory in Doha was just crazy, unbelievable”.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Dina Asher-Smith, Birmingham 2019 Diamond League, photo by Getty Images / British Athletics
That seemed a good excuse – not that one ever needs an excuse to speak to write about Shelly-Ann – to reflect on her three previous Olympic 100 meter races.
2008 Olympics
In 2008, aged 21, she lined up in Beijing. She ran 11.35 in round one (13th fastest overall), 11.06 in Round 2 (3rd fastest) and 11.00 (fastest) in the semi. She ran 10.78 in the final to lead a Jamaican clean-sweep from Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart. Recalling that race, she told me: “It was a surreal moment that I was able to win an Olympic gold medal. I never thought in a million years that that would happen. I was really just there for the experience. Nobody really knew who I was! It was like coming out of nowhere!”
2012 Olympics
In 2012, where there were only three rounds, she started with 11.00. While in 2008 no one had broken 11 seconds in the semi-finals, six ladies did in London. SAFP was fastest in 10.85. In the final she ran 10.75 to win from Carmelita Jeter and Veronica Campbell-Brown. Happy to defend her title, she told me: “That was definitely a different experience. There were a lot of other things that came with that one and I was feeling a bit of pressure, feeling I had something to prove. So there were a number of things I was dealing with. At the 2012 Olympics, I was grateful to come away with the win”.
2016 Olympics
In 2016, she opened with 10.96, the only person under 11 in round one. In the semi-finals there were 8 ladies under 11 seconds with SAFP and Elaine Thompson each on 10.88. A difficult season caught up with her in the final when she ran 10.86 for bronze behind Elaine Thompson (10.71) and Tori Bowie.
What not everyone knew she had battled injuries all year: “It is definitely an achievement”, she said, getting a medal in 2016, despite having the toe injury. Having to deal with that during the season was untimely. Mentally I had to dig deep. There was nothing I could do would stop the pain. It was excruciating pain and I just had to find a way to bear it. I was in tears but I still found a way to show up. Getting the bronze medal for that effort shows that there’s so much more I can do”.
In London 2012 she also ran the 200m coming second in a PR of 22.09 behind Allyson Felix but ahead of Jeter, Campbell-Brown and Richards-Ross. She took Olympic silver in the 4 by 100 in London and Rio. In Beijing, Jamaica qualified fastest but failed to get the stick round in the final.
Finally, a personal note about my first and last interviews with her. In 2012 at the Birmingham Diamond League, Shelly was one of the athletes at the pre-event press conference. She arrived early and was sitting on her own. I asked if I might have a 1-2-1 interview some time. She replied, “Sure, but not today”. After the presser, she was leaving the room, saw me, stopped and asked if I wanted to do the interview there and then.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Birmingham 2019 Diamond League, photo by Getty Images / British Athletics
Again, she was on duty at the Muller Grand Prix in Glasgow 2020. I had asked the event for a 1-2-1. After she had done endless TV, radio and written press interviews with patience and a smile, she saw me and said “You wanted an interview too?” A brilliant athlete and a class human being.
See also my 20 questions to SAFP:
https://www.runblogrun.com/2020/03/shelly-ann-fraser-pryce-twenty-questions.html
