Fraser-Pryce, Shelly-Ann

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, née Shelly-Ann Fraser, (born December 27, 1986, Kingston, Jamaica), Jamaican sprinter who won gold medals in the 100-metre race at both the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the 2012 London Games. She also captured a silver medal in the event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Fraser grew up in the impoverished, violence-plagued Waterhouse district of Kingston, Jamaica. She was raised with two brothers by her mother, who earned a living as an unlicensed street vendor. Fraser occasionally competed in track-and-field events in primary school, starting at age 10. As a high-school student, she raced 100 metres in 11.57 seconds—a promising result for a 16-year-old girl. In 2007, while attending the University of Technology in Kingston, she improved her best to 11.31 seconds, placed fifth at the national championships, and earned a silver medal at the world championships for her run in the heats of the 4 × 100-metre relay.

Although she was coached by Stephen Francis, who had guided Jamaica’s Asafa Powell to four men’s 100-metre world records, Fraser’s breakthrough in 2008 was sudden and unexpected. At the Beijing Olympics she won gold in the 100 metres with a time of 10.78 seconds. At just 5 feet 3 inches (1.6 metres)—more than 1 foot (30 cm) shorter than world-record-setting sprinter Usain Bolt, her celebrated male teammate—Fraser lived up to the “Pocket Rocket” nickname given to her by a journalist. She secured the 100-metre world title at the 2009 world championships in another personal best (10.73 seconds); she also ran on Jamaica’s winning 4 × 100-metre relay team. Fraser lost most of the 2010 season to a six-month doping ban after testing positive for oxycodone. She said that Francis had given her the narcotic—which is prohibited but not considered to be performance enhancing—to quell pain after oral surgery.

In January 2012 Fraser married longtime boyfriend Jason Pryce. Later that year at the London Games, she became the third woman to repeat as Olympic 100-metre champion, with another personal best (10.70 seconds). She then competed in the 200 metres for the first time at a major championship and came away with the silver. At the 2013 world championships, she won the women’s 100-metre final in 10.71 seconds. Four days later Fraser-Pryce captured gold in the 200 metres (22.17 seconds), becoming the third woman to claim such a dash double. She then anchored Jamaica’s team to secure gold in the women’s 4 × 100-metre relay. At season’s end the International Association of Athletics Federations named Fraser-Pryce its 2013 Woman Athlete of the Year.

At the 2015 world championships, Fraser-Pryce won gold medals as a member of Jamaica’s 4 × 100-metre relay team and in the 100-metre event, becoming the first woman to win three 100-metre golds in world championships history. At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, she battled through a persistent toe injury to take the silver medal in the 4 × 100-metre relay and the bronze in the 100-metre sprint.

In early 2017 Fraser-Pryce announced that she was pregnant—she gave birth to a boy in August—and she did not return to competition until the following year. At the 2019 world championships, she claimed her fourth title in the 100 metres and was a member of the gold-winning 4 × 100-metre relay team. Her next major event was the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, which were held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There she won a silver medal in the 100 metres and gold in the 4 × 100-metre relay.