TOKYO (AP) — It began 18 years ago in Japan as a reserve on a Jamaica relay team when she won a silver medal in the 2007 world championships in Osaka.
The end of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce’s storied career — it’s been announced for months — came Sunday at the world championships in Tokyo.
Again in Japan, where it all began.
She leaves as the most decorated female 100-meter sprinter in history, though she plans to run on a relay toward the end of the nine-day meet.
She finished only sixth in Sunday’s 100 final, but it didn’t seem to matter that much.
“I mean as a competitor that isn’t how I wanted it to go,” she said. “But on the bright side, I made the finals.”
Not bad for a 38-year-old sprinter who said that 18 years ago she didn’t think she “measured up” with other members of the team.
“I actually didn’t want to run,” said Fraser-Pryce, who is nicknamed the “Mommy Rocket.” She used to be called the “Pocket Rocket” until she gave birth in 2017.
She planned to retire a year ago at the Paris Olympics, but it all went terribly wrong.
Fraser-Pryce withdrew from the semifinals of the 100 meters in Paris after what officials called a mix-up at the gate. She said she waited about 30 minutes to be let into the stadium and blamed the delay for leaving her in no condition to race. So she pulled out.
“I know last year, not being able to race the semifinals or the finals in Paris was very hard for me, and for me that was one of my motivations in coming here tonight,” Fraser-Pryce said.
“It’s really just finishing what I’ve started and I felt undone in that moment,” she added, flashing a smile under one of her trademark wigs — this time wearing black, gold and green hair to match the Jamaican flag.
The diminutive Fraser-Pryce — just over 5-feet (1.52 meters) — won three Olympic gold medals in her career and eight Olympic medals overall. Add to that, 10 gold medals in world championships and 16 overall — a grand total of 24 in track and field’s two biggest events.
Fraser-Pryce ran in the same generation as fellow Jamaican Usain Bolt, who won eight Olympic gold medals and still holds the world records in the 100 and 200.
He got more attention, but she lasted longer.
Bolt is 39, and he said Sunday that Fraser-Pryce made him question why he stepped away from the sport eight years ago.
“It just kind of says that maybe I could have been doing this, too,” Bolt said before her race on Sunday.
“I’m just so impressed with her work rate, and how long she’s been doing it — and the level she’s been doing it at,” Bolt added. “Because a lot of people are still in the game and they’re at the bottom.”
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