Paris Olympics 2024: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce decides to retire after Olympics

Three-time Olympic champion sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica has decided to retire after the 2024 Paris Games, saying she wants to spend more time with her family. Fraser-Pryce, widely regarded as one of the greatest sprinters of all time, won the 100m Olympic title in 2008, becoming the first Caribbean woman to win gold in the women’s 100m.

She successfully defended that title in 2012 and battled a toe injury to win a bronze in the 2016 Rio Olympics and a silver in the relay. After giving birth to her son in 2017, Fraser-Pryce won another Olympic silver and a relay gold in Tokyo 2020.

Read more: Paris Olympics 2024: Cam Levins & Malindi Elmore make the cut for Canadian Olympics Team

It is these precious moments with her family that the 37-year-old wants to enjoy more, confirming her official retirement in an interview with Essence.com in February. But not until after Paris 2024, so Olympic fans will be able to celebrate the Jamaican going out with a well-deserved final bow.

“My son needs me,” says Fraser-Pryce in the interview, of the decision she’s made despite still being passionate about athletics. “My husband (Jason) and I have been together since before I won in (Beijing) 2008. He has sacrificed for me. We’re a partnership, a team. And it’s because of that support that I’m able to do the things that I have been doing for all these years. And I think I now owe it to them to do something else.”  

Last year, Fraser-Pryce was caught on video winning her son’s sports day race in Jamaica. The multiple Olympic and world championship gold medallist lined up against other mothers and unsurprisingly won by a distance.

The Jamaican sprint queen is currently focusing on her training for Paris 2024, said that this year’s Olympic Games is about ‘pushing boundaries’. Moreover, it is also showing people that you stop when you decide. I want to finish ‘on my own terms’.”

Read more: Paris Olympics 2024: Yohan Blake decides to retire after Olympics

Get the latest from Sportslumo.com by following us on Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.