Fraser-Pryce and Thompson-Herah to Receive NATIONAL HONOUR

Made in JamaicaAugust 6, 2021

Two of Jamaica’s biggest female track stars will be honoured later this year according to reports from LoopNews. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Thompson-Herah will be conferred with national honour, Order of Distinction, Commander Class.

On Monday, October 18, both athletes will be presented with the honour on National Heroes Day, their outstanding contribution in the field of sport will be recognized. They are now among 144 distinguished Jamaicans to be honoured by the Government of Jamaica this year.

Professor Donald Jasper Harris, the vice president of the United States, Kamala Harris’ father heads the list. He will be conferred with the Order of Merit, which is Jamaica’s third-highest honour. His outstanding contribution to national development in the field of economics is being recognized.

At the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Thompson-Herah performed excellently, they were delayed by a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Steven Francis trained athlete was the first woman to defend her 100m and 200m titles. She first achieved the feat in Rio in 2016 and then did a follow up by breaking a record set by Florence Flo-Jo Joyner Griffiths, an American, and lowering a national record in Tokyo.

Thompson-Herah won the event in an impressive 21.53. Only Flo-Jo ran faster over that distance. The legendary Merlene Ottey was the Jamaican record holder over the distance with a time of 21.64. For 30 years the record was not broken.

Thompson-Herah accomplished a rare feat and won a third gold medal on Friday. She was an athlete on the relay team and ran the 4×100-metre final with Fraser-Pryce, teenager Brianna Williams and 100-metre bronze medalist Shericka Jackson who was the anchor.

Fraser-Pryce has become one of the most enduring athletes and she is definitely one of the greatest female athletes of all time. She won three gold medals; the first in the 100-metre finals in Beijing in 2008. She was victorious when she defended her title in London in 2012 and later added a third gold medal in Tokyo in the 4x100m relay.

At the Olympics Fraser-Pryce also won four silver medals and a bronze. Her collection of global medals is completed with 11 wins at the World Championship where she won nine gold and two silvers dating back to 2007, very impressive. In Doha, Qatar her last 100m title was won at the 2019 World Championships.