An Ode to Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce

Happy Friday, all! I hope everyone had a great week. My personal highlight had to be watching Arsenal beat Manchester United in the Women’s Super League at a sold-out Emirates. Being part of record attendances at women’s football matches never gets old!

As the title suggests, this week’s newsletter is going to be an ode to Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who recently announced she will be retiring after this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris. In an interview with lifestyle magazine Essence, the 37-year-old said she was stepping away from the track to spend more time with her family, and hopes to finish her career on her own terms.

“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 is quite easily one of the greatest sprinters of all time. She has medalled in the 100 metres at four consecutive Olympic Games, earning gold at Beijing 2008 and London 2012, silver at Tokyo 2020 and bronze at Rio 2016. Fraser-Pryce also clinched silver medals in the 200m and 4x100m relay at London 2012, and in the latter event at Rio 2016.

But it is at the World Athletics Championships where Fraser-Pryce has really dominated. She has won an astonishing ten gold medals and four silver at the competition, including a record five world titles in the 100m. 

It’s not even as if Fraser-Pryce has been so dominant because there’s been a lack of talent in women’s sprinting. During her 16 years at the top of athletics, she’s had to battle hard against stars such as compatriot Elaine Thompson-Herah, Marie-Josée Ta Lou, Torie Bowie, Dafne Schippers, Dina Asher-Smith, and more recently, Shericka Jackson and Sha’Carri Richardson.

It’s actually Thompson-Herah who has the fastest personal best over 100m, running 10.54 seconds at the Eugene Diamond League in August 2021. Fraser-Pryce set her own personal best of 10.60 just days later in Lausanne. (Both Thompson-Herah and Fraser Pryce have been unable to surpass 10.49, the 100m world record set by Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988).

Fraser-Pryce has managed to achieve a lot of the above whilst being a mother, having given birth to her son Zyon in August 2017. Apparently, she went into labour while watching the 100m final at the 2017 World Athletics Championships! A lot of people expected her to retire, but she returned to training within eleven weeks of giving birth, and was back competing in May 2018. In September 2019, Fraser-Pryce earned her fourth 100m world title, calling it a “victory for motherhood” and bringing Zyon with her on her lap of honour around the stadium. 

The image of Fraser-Pryce carrying her son around the track was extremely powerful. It was a symbol of the opportunities which were beginning to open up for female athletes wishing to have a family alongside a successful career. There is no doubt this juggling act will have been very difficult for Fraser-Pryce at times, but her ability to do both was, and is, inspiring. 

In general, Fraser-Pryce is iconic. Whether it's her ability on the track, the vibrant hairstyles selected for each competition or her jovial personality, it really is a joy to watch her race. She has been responsible for some brilliant moments, including this interview alongside Asher-Smith at the 2022 World Athletics Championships, and the time she competed in the parents’ race at her son’s school sports day. She will be well and truly missed.

I think the attention on an equally brilliant and charismatic Usain Bolt meant Fraser-Pryce sometimes didn’t get the recognition she deserved, and, in my opinion, the news of her retirement didn’t quite get the reaction that is befitting of an all-time great. But I’m sure the tributes will increase as we get closer to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. I really hope that Fraser-Pryce does indeed get to finish off on her own terms, which I imagine is with another Olympic medal or two around her neck. Who knows, maybe she will even be going for Griffith-Joyner’s world record…

Winning Women

Celebrating the impressive achievements of female athletes across the world

• Racheal Kundananji has become the world’s most expensive women’s football player after NWSL expansion team Bay FC paid £685,000 to Madrid CFF for the striker. Kundananji hit 33 Liga F goals in 43 games for Madrid CFF, and also featured for Zambia at the 2023 Women’s World Cup. 

• Tennis world number one Iga Swiatek won the Qatar Open for the third year in a row, defeating Elena Rybakina in last week’s final. 

• A lot of winning women at this month’s World Aquatics Championships! Sweden’s Sarah Sjöström earned her sixth successive 50m butterfly world title, and her fourth 50m freestyle world title. Laura Stephens became Britain’s first individual world swimming champion since Rebecca Adlington in 2011, having won the 200m butterfly. Freya Colbert then added to Britain’s tally in the 400m individual medley.

Bits and Bobs

Women’s sport news and content you may have missed

• The Netball Super League has announced a landmark broadcast deal with Sky Sports and the BBC, which should make the competition more accessible than ever before. Every game will be shown on Sky Sports, with one game from each round also shown for free on Sky Sports YouTube. There will also be one match a week streamed on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport. The 2024 Netball Super League season got underway last weekend – find out more information here.

• Lots happening in football, as always. As mentioned at the top of the newsletter, Arsenal set a new Women’s Super League attendance record of 60,160 as they got past Manchester United 3-1. The next match at the Emirates is against Spurs on March 3, and an all-female grounds team will be preparing the pitch! This is an area of sport that really lacks female representation – apparently only two per cent of the grounds management sector are women – so this is a great initiative.

• Over to international football… has anyone travelled on the Lioness Line yet? The Overground section that runs from Euston to Watford Junction has been named after the Euro 2022 winning team, as part of an overall rebrand of the line. There was also positive news from Australia today. The legacy report from the 2023 Women’s World Cup has been released, and Football Australia have claimed that the tournament generated AUS$1.32 billion (£683 million) in economic impact for the country.

• I also wanted to give a massive shout out to the men’s team at Camden and Islington United, who have boycotted two matches against a side posting “horrific examples of misogyny” on social media. 

• WNBA star Sabrina Ionescu narrowly lost to Steph Curry in a three-point contest during the NBA All-Star weekend. Viewership apparently peaked during the shootout, which Curry won 29-26. Caitlin Clark is another woman making waves in basketball, recently becoming the all-time top scorer in the NCAA women’s basketball competition. The University of Iowa star has been described as the “supernova driving women’s basketball to new heights”. 

• The team at F1 Academy have announced a landmark partnership with beauty brand Charlotte Tilbury, which is set to use its global platform to showcase current drivers, shine a light on their achievements and show its audience all the opportunities available to women in motorsport – both on and off track. Elsewhere, More Than Equal are delivering an online webinar on March 7 on the gender gap in motorsport, presented by head of research Dr. Fran Longstaff and driver coach Sarah Moore. 

• To round off today’s newsletter is a save the date… for 2026. The IWG World Conference on Women & Sport, held every four years and the largest gathering of its kind in the world, is heading to England! It will run from July 9 to 11, 2026, in Birmingham, with more information available here.

That’s all for today’s newsletter. If you enjoyed it, please share with your networks and anyone else you think may be interested. Thank you!