Pocket Rocket ready to inspire again with fitting farewell at final Olympics
World’s fastest woman Shelly-ann Fraserpryce says fearlessness helped her succeed as a mother and reveals her big plans in retirement
It was a Jamaican headlinewriter who first coined the nickname “Pocket Rocket” to describe Shelly-ann Fraser-pryce. The second she walks through the door of her beauty salon in the island’s capital, Kingston, you see why it stuck. This is a woman I watched in the flesh when she won Olympic gold in London and I have seen win gold many times on television. When she runs, she fills the stadium, fills the screen. Close up, she is tiny, barely an inch over five feet tall.
Physically, it is hard to imagine two more different athletes than Fraser-pryce, the greatest of all time in women’s sprinting (Michael Johnson’s assessment) and the male equivalent, fellow Jamaican Usain Bolt. He dwarfs her. Yet in terms of achievement, they are almost equal and, still competing, Fraser-pryce has the chance of more to come.
As we meet, she is just getting back into training. “I love training,” she says – something else that sets her apart from Bolt. And here is another thing I cannot imagine coming from her male counterpart – when I press her on which of her six Olympic and 11 world championships medals means the most… it is a bronze, from the 2016 Olympics. “I had a toe injury. I had not been training properly for months. I did not even think I would get to the final, but that mental toughness and sacrifice was so vital. Feeling great and winning gold is great. But fighting hard like that meant a lot.”
If dealing with injury was hard enough, pregnancy caused further absence, but she believes the determination garnered in 2016 helped her return to form after the birth of her son, Zyon, leading to more gold in Doha this year. “I was nervous, taking all that time off, but I had the willpower, the fearlessness, because I knew it was possible to come back.”
Fraser-pryce believes in equality, refusing to call herself a feminist. “My husband and I are a partnership, we love each other, work together, but he is the head of the household. I want to raise my son to love and respect women, but to be strong.” Yet she admits there is an element of sexism in the way men attract more recognition for their talents. She talks of the recent world record set by Dalilah Muhammad in the 400metre hurdles. “Had that been a man, it would have been a bigger moment. Women do not always get the respect they deserve.”
In Jamaica, Fraser-pryce is a legend; a statue outside the national stadium; the prime minister pointing to her as an inspiration for children, especially young girls, to believe they can achieve anything, and she has written a children’s book on that same theme. Yet, globally, everyone knows Bolt in a way not everyone knows Fraser-pryce.
It is not as if she lacks a big personality. Also, her different hair styles and colours – today she is plain black – add glamour. She has a beautiful smile and an infectious laugh, often at jokes about herself, as when she admits as a young athlete using buses to avoid the long runs demanded by her coach, throwing bottles of water over herself to pretend she had put in the miles. Sometimes the jokes are at my expense. She has heard of Burnley, but delights in saying: “I don’t know any of their players.” And when I try to get her to say London 2012 was the best Olympics, she insists Beijing beat us by a mile, and is sure that Tokyo will, too. “Beijing, Tokyo, London, Rio – that is the order.” Laughter.
She has strong views and a deep religious faith and tries hard to persuade me that even if I do not “do” God, God “does” me. “It will happen. Believe me. You will see.”
On the wall behind us is a giant slogan, ASAP – Always Say A Prayer, but she insists: “I never pray to God to help me win. I pray to be ready, healthy, give my best. I pray against fear, because fear kills promise. Fear makes you focus on the other athletes, not yourself. Fear makes you want the bathroom, makes your head hurt.”
She is smart and with her husband Jason has set up a number of businesses to ensure she is busy when retirement comes. Now 32, she accepts it is coming soon.
“I am always grateful for the opportunity to represent my country, my family, myself. But Tokyo is my last Olympics. I definitely know that.” So, how does that make her feel? “It doesn’t make me feel anything. I will miss the sport, but I will be OK. I don’t think it will be hard to retire. Athletics is just one thing I do.”
As to why Jamaica, with its population of just three million, has produced so many great sprinters, there are lessons for every country. “It is about the
system. We do running from basic school, primary, then high, then college. Competitiveness is embedded in who we are.”
But what about the laid-back image, hers and Jamaica’s? “I am competitive and I am chilled. I compartmentalise. In athletics, I zone in, no nonsense. At home, I am super chilled. With my friends, I am funny, a clown.”
When I interviewed Bolt a couple of years ago, he spoke of sometimes resenting the pressure Jamaicans put on their athletes. Fraser-pryce concurs. “I remember when Usain went to the World Championships and he didn’t medal. It’s tough. Jamaicans are very hard to please. They expect you to win. I do not want the load of their expectations. I am carrying my own load. I am trying for 10 seconds. I can’t go faster with all that expectation on my shoulders.”
That has made her toughminded vis-a-vis what the public might think. “I know who I am and I know why I run. I give 100 per cent, if you think otherwise, that is your problem.”
She grew up with a single mother in a place called
Waterhouse – “so called because when it rains the houses fill with water”. An Arsenal fan, for seven years she has run a “peace through football” tournament aimed at getting young men away from gang warfare. In honour of the people who helped her financially, her Pocket Rocket Foundation helps fund young athletes with their education – she managed to get a degree while competing at the top level – and athletics support. “I want to give students the chance not to have to worry where their next meal, their next book, is coming from.”
Success is also about the people who can spot and nurture talent. “My coach in high school would say ‘you can get to the Olympics’, and I’m like ‘OK!’ I thought I was OK, but not that good.”
She will not be a coach. “Not my thing. I don’t have the patience for coaching. I am very hard on myself and I can see myself taking a stick and going ‘did I not say swing your hands?’” More laughter.
Whatever she does post-tokyo, you can be sure she will do it with supreme self-confidence. I was in Jamaica with my daughter Grace to interview Fraser-pryce for our
podcast, Football, Feminism and
Everything in Between. We ask all our guests to name their six-a-side team to save the world. Nelson Mandela is the most popular choice. Fraser-pryce is the first to name herself. She names her husband, too, as vice-captain alongside Barack Obama, Muhammad Ali, Mother Teresa, and actress-activist Yara Shahidi.
“I know I can do things. I will do more after I retire. You do not have to be in politics to get things done. I can get things done by being who I am, and I do.”
‘Jamaicans expect you to win. I can’t go faster with all that expectation on my shoulders’