LAST SPRINT

The 37-year-old Jamaican sprinter, Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce has announced that the Paris Games will be her fifth and final Olympics.

Fraser Pryce, who won two gold medals in the 100 metres and another in the 4×100 relay, said she still loves the sport but will retire after Paris so she can spend more time with her family; her husband and her six-year old son, Zyon.

“My son needs me,” she said.

“My husband and I have been together since before I won in 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.”

Fraser-Pryce took second-place at Jamaica’s Olympic trials in 2008, then went on to lead a Jamaican sweep in the 100 metres at the Beijing Games. It was the first of her eight Olympic medals. She also won four silvers and one bronze.

She also has won ten gold medals at world championships, including six individual championships—five in the 100 and one in the 200.

In 2019, she became the oldest woman to win the world title when she returned after the birth of her son. She won it again in 2022 at age 35.

Sha’Carri Richardson, of the United States, celebrates after she crosses the finish line to anchor her team to gold in the Women’s 4×100-meters relay final during the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, Aug. 26, 2023.  Associated Press/Martin Meissner, file

She finished third at the Worlds last year and is a contender in Paris, along with defending World champion Sha’Carri Richardson and two-time defending Olympic