Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce: “Having a child doesn’t stop your career. If anything, it enhances it”

With 26 medals at the World level, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is perhaps the most accomplished female athlete. The 38-year-old called time on her career earlier this year after competing for the final time at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo where she won a silver in the women’s 4x100m. These days, Fraser-Pryce is coming to terms with life after retirement.

In India last week to flag off the Bajaj Life Pune marathon, Fraser-Pryce spoke to Sportstar about her latest competitor – a parent of her son’s classmate, accidentally inspiring herself while inspiring others and the uniquely Jamaican problems of forgetting where she’s kept some of her world championships medals.

You’ve had a lot of success at the Olympics and World Championships but perhaps, the most viral videos of you are the ones in which you are competing in the parents race at your son Zyon’s school and you always smash everyone in it. Why do you do that race?

Well, guess what? In Jamaica, sports is a big deal. They have parents’ race in my son’s school’s sports day and I’m a parent. I just happen to be an Olympic sprinter. I actually missed my son’s first sports day because I was in Grenada for a track meet. I was super bummed about it because we grew up seeing our parents running at our sports day.

My mom ran at my sports day when I was in high school and primary school too. It’s important to continue that legacy. But even so, when I went to my son’s sports day for the first time, I actually wasn’t planning on running because I was still in training at that time since the sports day is in April. I was thinking I’m not going to do anything outside my training.

But all the kids were just so excited when it came to the parents’ races. They asked me, ‘Auntie Shelly, are you running?’ I still wasn’t running but then my son came up to me and said, ‘Mummy, are you running?’ Then, I had to run.

I remember getting to the line and I take every single race very seriously. People were saying you should slow down but there was no way I was doing that. The moment I hear a gun or a whistle, it’s time to start. It was pretty exciting for me because all the boys and girls that were there watching came alive because a lot of them probably wouldn’t have got the chance to see me race.

Did any of the parents tell you to go a little easier on them?

Some of them did say that but a lot of them were very confident. They were telling me they were going to beat me.

I think they all knew what was going to come. When I first went to the line, all of these parents were warming up. I found it hilarious because they actually thought they had a chance. I wasn’t going to take it easy. Some of them asked me to give them a head start and I said, ‘Nothing doing, there’s no such things as a jump start in track and field. We’re all starting at the same line, and I’m going to wait on the gun and we’re going to run.’

I remember one of the parents was actually videotaping the race on his drone and when I saw that footage I thought to myself, ‘Man, I really beat them bad.’ I want them to go home and say, ‘Oh my God, Shelly just destroyed us.’

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There was one parent out there who actually started working out. Her daughter is in the same grade as my son but in different classes (sections). So, she comes and works out every day. She sends me a picture of her working out in the gym, telling me, ‘Oh, I’m coming next year.’

So, right now, I’m currently only training to beat her! She is my biggest competitor now.

Do you think you’ll ever go easy on your son? As in, are you going to smash him every time?

I’ve raced my son a couple of times and I didn’t allow him to win. He’s not going to learn anything that way. My son actually plays football and I remember him teaching me his different moves at football. I couldn’t remember all of them and I think he called me lazy! But, of course, I was tired. I was spending the entire year training.

So, when it comes to my son, he says he wants to do track, and I said to him, ‘All right, if you want to do track, I can coach you.’ He’s like, ‘No. Please remember, I’m just a kid.’ So, he actually thinks I’m going to be training him too hard. Personally, I really just want to walk alongside him on the journey. And whenever he needs me and needs my assistance or my help and wants me to train him, then I’ll oblige.

But outside of that, I just allow him to lead in terms of what he likes. Right now, he loves football and I try to support him a hundred per cent. I think what’s hard for me as an athlete is to understand that I have to be a mom first for him. I’m tempted when he’s on the field to say kick the ball or pass the ball or shoot and then he’ll come to me and say, ‘Mommy, just calm down.’

I think I’m just helping but I realised in that moment he wants me to be his mom. I want to be that, but I also want him to excel at what he’s doing.

Initially, you were supposed to turn full-time mom after the Olympics last year, but that didn’t go according to plan (she withdrew without starting the semifinals of the 100m). And then, you decided to compete once again at World Championships and you finished with a medal. Was that the kind of finish that you were happy with?

When I see things in perspective, I have to say yes. In any sport, in any season and specifically in track, it’s unpredictable. You work hard and you never know what’s going to happen. And I think Paris was that for me. I really had to dig myself out of a hole after Budapest (World Championships). I had got injured in the 4x100m over there. I had to really dig myself out of that hole when I had to come back for the Olympic year. It was hard (to finish the way I did). The reality of not being able to get to the line was hard. I had worked so hard to get to that moment and I couldn’t get to the finish line. That’s just a reality that I had to live with. It was hard because I would have preferred not going at all compared to working as hard as I did and then not even being able to stand in the line to contest the semifinals.

So, I knew that this year was going to be the World Championships and not having the best season in terms of changing coaches and everything. I think when I look at everything in perspective, I realise that it could have been like last year when I didn’t even get the chance to step to the line. This time, I got the opportunity to step to the line and I got to finish on my own terms. It may not have looked the way I may have envisioned it going into the season (she finished sixth in the 100m), but ultimately, I got to finish.

And finishing for me is really just knowing that I gave everything. I left everything on the track, and I walked away feeling satisfied with everything that I’ve been able to do over the course of my career.

As an athlete, we never really know what a year will bring. You just have to continue to work hard and have faith that everything will work out. And if it doesn’t work out, there’s always next year, and you can do it again. So, when I got to walk away from the World Championships with a medal (silver in women’s 4x100m relay), it was a great way to close that chapter. It might not have been a gold medal but I’ve lined up with so many different women from so many different age groups. I made a final and I walked away with a medal.

What does life look like now?

Right now, it’s really about just realignment and just really allowing myself to decompress. It has been 18 years. Some people think you had a great career and it’s lovely. But it’s still something that you’ve been doing for a long time, 18 years. So, you still will have to grieve the process.

And I think grieving the process is not a bad thing. It’s realising that I don’t get to wake up five o ‘clock in the morning. I don’t get to go to training every day. The reality is this was something that I loved. This is not something that I did just as a hobby. This is something that was a daily routine. This was something that was a part of who I am. That gave me so many different platforms and allowed me in different spaces.

I got a chance to really inspire different athletes to know that it doesn’t really matter where they fall in life. There’s always a way to rise after a setback. For me, right now, it’s really just readjusting and understanding that you might be finished but there is still work that I do outside the track. I need to work on the business side of Fraser-Pryce. I need to work on my foundation and I really need to work on being a mom.

I’m really just being a mom right now. I’m giving my son the 100 per cent that I’ve given to track.

How rewarding is that?

It’s very rewarding. Right now, he’s at a football competition. I get to see the actual tournament. I was already there for a couple of his practice games and I realised that I felt contented in that space.

What’s the hardest thing to switch off?

I think the hardest things to switch off are the ‘what ifs’. You aren’t preoccupied with going to training anymore but you are now thinking, ‘What if I did this? What if I had tried this? What if my knee weren’t hurting me, maybe I could have done this or I could have done that.’

That’s the phase that is hard to switch off, the constant what ifs, reassessing and going back to previous years or setbacks or decisions that were made in a particular season.

It’s very hard to switch off right now. But what I’m trying to find comfort in is knowing that what has gone has gone, but what is to come is better than what has gone.

You started your career in Waterhouse (a poor neighbourhood of Kingston, Jamaica) and you’ve gone on to become probably the greatest of all time. What’s the moment that seems the most unreal to you?

It has to be when I came back from being a mother and winning the World Championships in Doha. When I look at that moment, it just really feels surreal. I think about it and it feels like that’s crazy.

I remember when I got pregnant, and I remember I was still training at the time, and nobody knew I was pregnant at the time. I was nervous and genuinely scared. I didn’t say it but I really felt that my career would not be the same after my pregnancy. The reality is you’re hearing people say, ‘Oh, she had a kid.’ So, now it’s time to pack up. You’re listening to that. But then, you are also saying to yourself, ‘I’m doing this regardless.’ When I look back, I think that was really hard!.

I never thought I would have my son and come back and still win. Then, when I turned 35, that was another time when people would say my career was over. And then I went on to run the fastest time I ever did in my whole career. I won a world championships and I ran 10.60s over the whole season. That blew my mind because that was an accomplishment that came in the face of everything I had believed. People say I inspired a generation but I was also inspiring myself because I never thought those things would be possible.

We always think that it’s in your youth that you have to have those great times or great wins but then, I made it possible for other athletes to understand that life or your career doesn’t stop at 30. Having a child doesn’t stop your career. If anything, it enhances it. It makes it better. It gives you clarity. It gives you more perspective.

Your son is clearly a very important part of your life. What’s something that you’d like him to know maybe when he gets older?

I think what’s going to be really important for him is to trust his instinct. If you really have faith and if you have the right support, anything is possible. That’s really what my career has been. It’s really pairing faith with talent and making those things work. Sometimes, I think people have the talent but they lack faith. Or they might lack support. It’s important to have right support, team and people in your corner.

If you have that, you work hard, remain consistent, driven and focused, then if my career is an example, you will have a lot of wins. You will have losses as well but it’s what you do with those losses that matters as well.

I think he should know from me that it’s possible to defy what people think is possible. It’s about making sure that no one should put a limit on your dreams or aspirations.

I think what he’ll always have is my support, whether he wins or loses. That’s something I tell him everyday when he goes to football training or if he’s writing an exam at school or if he’s participating in chess. I tell him I’m proud of him regardless of what happens in that test or on the field. It’s important to say these things.

When was the last time your son made you really angry?

It was actually two days ago. He was on the pitch and he kept complaining that the boys weren’t passing him the ball. I was thinking there’s one ball and 11 of you. How do you expect to get the ball all the time?

I said, ‘Sorry, they’re passing the ball to the others. You have to go and tackle if you want the ball.’ To that, he said he was always tackling but no one was giving him the ball. I told him to calm down and take his time but he started saying that he wasn’t getting it right and that maybe he wasn’t that good.

That’s when I got angry. I told him, ‘Listen. I don’t want to hear that’.

Apart from your son, I’m sure a lot of athletes come to you for advice. What do you tell them?

One thing I always tell young athletes is that success is for everyone. It’s how you manage the small things that will lead you to it. It’s about believing that you will be successful. I honestly feel that if I can, so can anyone else. I grew up in Waterhouse. I don’t think anyone would have thought I would be in this space today. But what I realised is that greatness can come from anywhere and greatness is in everyone.

It’s just about finding the right people and having the right support and also the right mindset to unveil what’s already inside.

You mention your roots quite often in interviews I’ve read of you. You’ve even gone back to the same place. Why is that?

It has a big hold on me of course. I’m a daughter of the soil! Jamaica has given me so much. As a country, we have overcome so many different challenges and yet, we rise as a people. We are strong. We have a lot of grit and determination. I think we show other countries that we can excel in the right environment and in the right space. I have had the opportunity I’ve had because of what every single person has poured into me when I was younger.

Jamaica supported and nurtured me. It’s important to give back to the same place that showed up for me countless times and who cheered for me.

What makes Jamaica so special in track and field?

We are probably the greatest track and field nation or sprint nation. It’s everything to represent Jamaica. As a Jamaican, I think we have such a big impact. When people talk about Jamaica, they, of course, talk about Bob Marley but they also talk about Merlin Ottey and Donald Quarry.

So, we have a rich heritage. And it’s that heritage which we use as our stepping stone. It’s that heritage that tells us that we can. It’s that heritage that is the blueprint for us. If we see our other countrymen and women excelling with limited resources, then it tells us that within our DNA, we too are meant to rise. We are meant to overcome challenges. We are meant to succeed. So, you use all of those, and you use it to really push yourself forward.

Published on Dec 19, 2025