In a post released by Jamaicans.com, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was voted Jamaican Person of the Year and Jamaican Sports Personality of the Year for the past year, 2022. The survey was done through the website.
Fraser-Pryce, who was born on December 27, 1986, in Kingston, Jamaica, is also called the “Pocket Rocket” because of her small body size and the way she explodes out of the blocks. The Olympic champion started from a humble background, as her talents were noticed at a very tender age. Fraser-Pryce grew up running barefooted through primary school and honed her speed through high school at Wolmer’s High School for Girls.
Her talents grew tremendously through youth athletic programmes as she competed with her peers. She went on to compete in Jamaica’s Inter-Secondary Schools Boys and Girls Championships (CHAMPS) at the age of 16 and won a bronze medal in the 100-metre sprint event. Acquiring a time of 25.35 seconds, Fraser-Pryce won the 200-metre title at the Jamaica Under-18 championship and played a major role in the Jamaican junior team winning the 4×100-metre relay at the Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships in Barbados.
After leaving high school, Fraser-Pryce attended the University of Technology in Jamaica, where she met Stephen Francis. Francis, who was the lead trainer at the MVP Track Club and was a directing force in Asafa Powell’s fruitful career, Asafa Powell is the previous men’s 100-meter world record holder. Fraser-Pryce’s genuine achievement started in 2007, when she took the fifth spot in the 100 metres at the Jamaican National Senior Championships with another individual best of 11.31 seconds.
Her exhibition led to her being chosen as a reserved competitor for the national 4×100-meter relay group. Her quantum leap happened in 2008 at the Jamaican Olympic preliminaries, when she shocked everybody by coming in second in the 100-metre finals with a time of 10.85 seconds. This was the first time she had run the distance in under 11 seconds.
Fraser-Pryce has kept the world in shock and awe with her impressive speed. With a career spanning almost 20 years, she is regarded as one of the best and most lasting track athletes of all time. Although Fraser-Pryce participates in the 60, 100, and 200-metre races, the 100-metre race is her preferred distance and where she excels the most. She has won five world championships and two Olympic 100-metre gold medals.
She has a total of eight Olympic medals and is the first Caribbean woman to win a 100-meter gold medal. She earned a silver medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, 13 years after winning her first Olympic medal, becoming the first athlete to win a medal in the 100-meter event at four back-to-back Olympic Championships. However, this is not the first time Fraser-Pryce has swept away the year’s awards. She was named IAAF World Athlete of the Year in 2013. She won the indoor 60-meter title in 2014, becoming the first female athlete to win world titles in all four sprint events concurrently.
Adding to her success, the BBC listed Fraser-Pryce among the most influential and inspiring women in the world in 2019. Claiming the most victories in the 100-metre sprint events than any other female athlete, Fraser-Pryce ascertained more medals than all other sprinters at the World Athletics Championships.
With five world 100-metre titles, ten gold medals, and four silver medals, she also became the first woman to win a global 100-metre sprint title in over two decades. Just last year, in 2022, she even became the oldest sprinter to be victorious in a world championship. Lastly, her personal best time of 10.60 seconds makes her the third fastest female in history.
