Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser, the 2008 Olympic 100m gold medalist has no interest in being treated like a star. On the contrary , she shuns the limelight and doesn’t have a busy social life. She actually hates dressing up and going out. She loves staying home, spending quiet times with her boyfriend or just hanging out with teammate, training partner and close friend Asafa Powell.
Welcome to the world of the bubbly 22-year-old from Kingston who was suddenly exposed to the world on Aug. 18, 2008 but still wants to remain low-keyed.
The 5’3″ sprinter likes wearing “braids and false hair” because she can do anything with them. There was a time when she was crazy about colors, subtle colors or a little highlight in her hair. The colored hair became her identifying mark of sorts whenever she stepped on the track. What many fans may not know though, is that she’s all jitters when she lines up for a race, any race, or even when she’s about to begin one of her early morning training sessions when she has to run some 300m for strength. In both cases she can become extremely nervous because she doesn’t quite know what outcome to expect.
Training can be intimidating
She reminds us that anything can happen in a race and that it’s never over until you cross the finish line. On the other hand, training sessions can be intimidating for her. She thinks about how she might throw up as a result of running the 300s that she hates to do. “I also think about the pain I’ll feel in my quads and hamstring, I think about everything.” But after psyching herself into doing it, drinking lots of fluid and taking the encouragement from her coach she manages to get the job done.
Until August last year, the young lady who hails from one of the Kingston’s inner-city neighborhoods and who has been running fast and loving track since she was in primary school was virtually unknown to the world. In 2007, she made a brief but partially hidden entrance onto the world stage when she ran the lead-off leg of the 4x100m relay qualifying round at the World Championships of Athletics. Saved for her blistering run at the Jamaica National Trials in June 2008, in which Kerron Stewart caught her about 15 meters from the finish and beat her into second place, the name Shelly-Ann Fraser was literally unknown to anyone that did not follow the sport keenly.
Her shocking performance that evening eliminated the star Veronica Campbell-Brown from the top three who would represent Jamaica in the 100m in Beijing and set off a debate among the Doubtful Thomases whether she could produce a Campbell-Brownesque run to secure a medal for Jamaica at the Olympic level.
Silent and focused
While the naysayers wanted Campbell-Brown in and her out, Shelly-Ann remained silent and focused, leaving her coach to hint that there’d be fireworks on the track in the Olympic 100m final. He was right; Shelly-Ann, the youngest and least experienced in the line-up, demolished the quality field that included compatriots Stewart, the national champion, and Sherone Simpson and Americans Lauryn Williams, Torri Edwards and Muna Lee by .20 secs. And she became the first Jamaican woman to win an Olympic gold medal in the 100m sprint.
Having reached the Olympic final with no baggage of being a favorite and a tag that read UNDERDOG, the chance of her winning seemed hardly likely. The diminutive young lady from Waterhouse was therefore able to focus on the task ahead as she worked her way through the qualifying rounds and stood behind the blocks awaiting the starter’s orders. Shelly-Ann describes briefly what was swirling in her mind as the moment of truth drew closer.
“Well, before I raced I was thinking about execution and technique. I knew that all of us out there were good and it would come down to who executed properly. I was thinking about getting it right and not getting too nervous.
“That was on my mind before the race but during the race I just wanted to get it over with. I just wanted to focus on me, run my own race and think back about everything my coach said.”
When the gun released the eight finalists, the so-called pocket rocket known for her explosive starts left the blocks behind Williams to her right and Simpson to her left. Before long, she caught Williams first and then drew level with the flying Simpson. And beyond expectations, she kept stretching the gap before pumping her fist through the air when she realized she had won, stopping the clock at 10.78 secs. The prancing new 100m queen could not contain herself or the full display of her braces.
“I blocked out everybody but up until I passed Sherone I was saying that Kerron was going to come because she has a great top-end speed so I had to hold on. But then I saw nobody…”
“I ran for Asafa”
Shelly-Ann noted that after Bolt had set the stage for everyone else to perform, her motivation was moreso the fact that “I had two teammates in the race and I ran for both of them. I ran for Asafa because I knew he wanted it [the gold] and the hard work he had put in, so I just went out there determined to get a medal for both of us.”
Had it not been for the second-exchange mishap in the sprint relay, Shelly-Ann might have copped a second gold medal in Beijing. With two gold medalists and two silver medalists making up a deadly sprinting quartet, the Jamaican flying squad seemed sure to break the world record. But to the disbelief of onlookers whose gasp in horror might have echoed from Beijing to Jamaica, the baton never made it through the second exchange. Shelly-Ann’s view on the matter is food for thought.
“What happened, happened and can’t be undone,” she reflected with a chuckle. “I thought that some rearrangement should have been done…that the lineup should have been different. For one, I think Sherone was exhausted and going through a lot of pain,” she recalled. It was recently reported in the media that Sherone had competed with a knee injury. “But most people weren’t seeing that, they were all seeing a gold medal but not thinking about how the girls felt. That was the best team out there and I’m sorry that it happened because I know we would have done great,” Shelly-Ann reasoned, adding that she was would have wanted the US to be in the final.
After Beijing and a few post-Olympic races, a tired Shelly-Ann was just excited and delighted to be home where family, friends, teammates and coach awaited her arrival. “It felt good to be home. It wasn’t about all the glamour and fame. I was just happy to finally get a break from all the running.”
Looking ahead to the World Championships in August, Shelly-Ann has no fears or worry about it. “What I learn to do now is to work hard because once you put in the work then the outcome will favor the work that you’ve put in,” she said. “So I continue to work hard, pray, stay focused and enjoy what I do.”
She explained that she’s not the type to get overly serious about what she does because she finds that the less serious approach brings her more enjoyment. “Pressure will always be there but it’s how you manage the stress and I think I am doing a pretty good job. I’m not getting ahead of myself and I’m not thinking about anybody because I’m the only one who will be out there when I’m running.”
As a professional athlete, Shelly-Ann sees the pro status as meaning that she’s “a bit above junior” ranking.
“I cannot run for my school anymore and it also means that I’m above the ordinary me that I was. That means I’m more mature about my training and how I go about doing stuff since I know I have to be tested. It comes with maturity and I think I’m getting the hang of it,” said the ever-smiling sprinter who speaks freely.
While she has no training secrets, her advice to upcoming athletes and those making the transition to pro is basically to “know who you are or else you’ll get lost in somebody else’s shadow. Everybody can’t be Asafa Powell, Veronica Campbell, Sherone Simpson. You have to be you and be good at being you and work hard if you want to achieve something…and working hard comes with pain, tears and laughter. Don’t get up every morning and believe you are coming out here for the coach; you are coming for you.”
During the 2008 Olympics, many turned focus to the foods eaten by Jamaican athletes. Shelly-Ann admits though that she’s no good with any nutritional regime even though she tries to eat healthily as in having vegetables, fruits, protein and carbs. She loves pork, cornmeal dumpling and porridge, eats fish, chicken, and rice but does not like yam. “I eat burger it’s probably once for the week. I try to keep off oily foods because I have a big tummy and I crave flat abs. My weight fluctuates [although] now I find that I’m steady.”
At this point, Shelly-Ann Fraser is pursuing a B.Sc in Childcare and development at the University of Technology (UTech) and taking it one day at a time as she tries to maintain a normal life. Her family treats her differently since her success. Her mother in particular wants to do everything for her.
“They believe that I am this idol and I am not. I know what I did is great and that I brought joy to the people in Jamaica but I love to be independent and just want to be treated in a normal way,” she expressed.
Gives Thanks God for blessing her
However, she thanks the Lord for blessing her so much. She always wanted a car and now she has two and is financially much better off than she was less than a year before. Now she can afford so many things she was deprived of. However, “I try not to squander but to invest and save.”
Shelly-Ann who wants to run the 200m as well, began her season with a modest 11.15 secs. for third in the 100m behind Stewart (10.92) and Marshavet Hooker (11.14) at the May 2 Jamaica International Invitational meet. A week before that, she anchored Jamaica’s 4×1 team to second place in The US vs. the World sprint relay at Penns. Both events came on the heels of an operation to remove her appendix, which set her back in a big way. There are kinks to be worked out and preparation is well underway to get her ready for two key events in June and August.
This is World Championship year and Shelly-Ann will race once more for the opportunity to represent Jamaica in the women’s 100m. Will she be caught again at the Trials? And if she goes to Berlin, will she duplicate her Olympic win? Only time will tell. However, two things are certain: she will not be under the radar this time and the world will be watching her.