If you’re going to come after one of the greatest, you best not miss. That’s one of the lessons a parent in Jamaica learned after challenging Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.
In March, the newly named Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year went viral after a video showed Fraser-Pryce easily winning a race against other parents at her son’s school sports day, leaving all other competitors in the dust. But in an interview with The Guardian, the three-time Olympic gold medalist revealed a parent had challenged her weeks before the day, insisting she was going to beat her.
“Two weeks beforehand she started sending me photos of her working out in the gym. And then she told me she was coming for me!” said Fraser-Pryce. “I was like, ‘You can’t be serious, girl!
“And when we got to sports day, she even started giving me the eyes, trying to psych me out.”
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‘I just had to show up’
Even with the smack-talking parent, Fraser-Pryce wasn’t going to go all out at the sports day. But then things started to unfold for her family; her son fell in one event and came in third in an obstacle race, while her husband finished in fourth in the dad’s sprint.
“Imagine leaving with a bronze medal and a fourth place,” Fraser-Pryce said. “It wouldn’t have looked good. So I just had to show up. I had to preserve my name.”
Fraser-Pryce then took off in the race, reportedly winning the race by more than half of the track. She also said she doesn’t like to trash talk, but called herself a “gentle assassin.”
“I don’t need to say a lot of things to compete because the drive I have is deep inside. That fire I have to excel comes from years of being at a place where I never thought I belonged,” she said.
Although not against Olympic competition, the race could be an indicator of things to come in the next year. Fraser-Pryce is planning to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and believes “the best is yet to come.”
