As of September, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce will no longer be an active professional athlete. The 38-year-old Jamaican track and field champion is set to race professionally for the last time at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in the fall.
Speaking to Marie Claire as part of a cover story for our Women in Sports issue, the Olympian shares that she feels proud of where she's at right now, 18 years into her athletic career. "When I look in the mirror, I see a strong, fearless woman who’s about to do the impossible," she said. "I'm happy with who I am. I love where I'm at in this journey. I'm not saying it's easy, because it's not. You're gonna have challenges, but who doesn't? You just have to pick which battles you're gonna fight."
For Fraser-Pryce, competing at this level in her late thirties is another point of pride. "I’m adding to the conversation of what it looks like to be a female sprinter at this age," she tells Marie Claire. "I’m here to inspire someone who may not find success until they’re in their thirties. To show them that it's possible. Now they have a blueprint, because I did it first."
But the athlete was also adamant that this isn't the end of the...track for her. "It’s my final year, but this isn’t a farewell tour," she tells us.
On the world stage, Fraser-Pryce is lauded as the third fastest woman ever, while in Jamaica, her level of iconic has been compared to the likes of Michelle Obama or Serena Williams in the U.S. So it's easy to see how she's absolutely not done being iconic post-running career.
Fraser-Pryce is a proud mom to 7-year-old Zyon, whom she shares with her husband Jason Pryce. She's also spearheaded the Pocket Rocket Foundation, which works to provide support to budding athletes in Jamaica, and founded AFIMI, an upcoming hair care brand on a mission to help women embrace their natural hair.
"I want my legacy to be the totality of who I am. The mom, the athlete, the entrepreneur, the philanthropist. I want it to be about impact. The impact that I've had on and off the track," she tells Marie Claire. "I’ve been deliberate in creating space for other women to understand that they can thrive in life. That they get to decide when and how you move. I’m here to reshape the narrative about what female bodies can do."
