From tenement yard to Olympic champion
Shelly-Ann Fraser caused one of the biggest upsets of the Olympic Games when she snared the women’s 100m title. spikesmag.com caught up with the 21-year-old to chat about her rise from the harsh streets of Kingston to the top of the world
They say a good big un’ will always beat a good little un’ but inside the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing the 4ft 11ins tall Shelly-Ann Fraser shattered the myth. The unheralded 21-year-old Jamaican blitzed down the track to stop the clock in 10.78, leading home a Jamaican clean sweep of the medals and propelling herself to eighth on the all-time speed list in the process.
The stats are staggering enough, but for Fraser to win gold was well, we think, worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster.
Raised in the drug and crime-troubled streets of Waterhouse, a rough and sometimes violent district in the Jamaican capital of Kingston, life was tough for Fraser growing up in a tiny tenement yard where she was forced to share a bed with her mother, and two brothers as a youngster.
“Yes, life was tough,” explains Fraser to spikesmag.com. “I lived in a tenement yard and our house was a little bit smaller than the others. My mum didn’t have a stable job. It was four to a bed. We didn’t have a computer or a gas stove and I didn’t have a lot of stuff. I didn’t have my own room, which is a big thing when you are growing up. But I always dreamed of having my own room and of taking care of my family. That dream has given me an extra push and extra motivation.”
With a fierce determination to climb from her childhood poverty her natural speed became an opportunity to escape. A talented, though by no means outstanding teenage athlete, Fraser set a season’s best of 11.74 to finish fourth in the hyper-competitive National Boys and Girls’ Championships in Kingston. Good but not great.
Yet the key to her meteoric rise to Olympic glory can be traced to one man: Stephen Francis, the coach of the formidable MVP (maximising power and velocity) group headed by the former world 100m record holder Asafa Powell.
Francis had established a reputation as a strict-disciplinarian who had stopped the drain of Jamaican talent to the US by setting up a impressive though maverick training group on the Caribbean island. Impressed by Francis, who Fraser says had been seeking to coach her since High School, she joined the group when she started studying childcare and management at UTEC (The University of Technology) in Kingston in September 2006.
The shock of the switch to a new more demanding training group was immense. Fraser was suddenly plunged into a huge training workload. Sessions began at 5.30am.
“When I started training with him, I could only finish one of the four 400m reps and I ended up walking the rest but this year I can now complete the sessions,” she explains of the progression she has made.
Fraser was made of stern stuff. She wanted to help her family and so worked diligently on trying to improve what she calls her “ugly technique.” The results started to come and the times started to tumble. Last season she lowered her PB down to 11.31 – a time which ranked her in joint 68th on the world lists. Yet this season it was clear Fraser had moved up another two notches.
At the Jamaican Trials she emerged as a world-class sprinter, finishing runner-up behind Kerron Stewart in a stunning new personal best of 10.85 before later performing with distinction on the European circuit – despite her open aversion to flying. Then came her Olympic glory. Yet the modest Fraser has little doubt where the credit should lie.
“What can I say? He (Stephen Francis) is the greatest coach in the world.” Fraser says. “He is the reason why I am Olympic champion. He is a very good role model because he not only emphasises track but also school and wants us to get a good education. He is a great motivator, even if it makes you cry. Sometimes I hate him, even though I know I don’t. Sometimes he’s a control freak and I think he’s aggressive at times but that’s how you get the work done. But I would call him a father figure to the younger girls on the team. He trains us to provide we don’t stray.”
Less than two months on from her Beijing double – she also won 4x100m gold with Jamaica – Fraser is now in a position to help her family. She plans to buy her mum "a store" to start a small business but promises to use her recently acquired wealth sensibly.
“I can get them (the family) certain stuff but I’m not going to spoil them,” she explains. “I’m not going to buy them possessions. I’ll help where I can and I’m pleased to help them but I’m not going to buy them everything.”
Fraser also admits adjusting to her new-found fame has not been easy for the naturally shy athlete. She has returned to school to continue her studies but the distractions as an Olympic champion have left her a little uncomfortable and she readily admits her life has been changed forever.
“When I’m on the road everyone recognises me, although I’m not doing too much that demands privacy,” she explains. “I don’t like it (the attention) that much because I’m a low-key kind of person but I’m getting used to it.”
For the near future though she is looking forward to buying her own apartment and she hopes to pass her driving test before the end of the year and purchase her first car. Yet she remains refreshingly down-to-earth and there is little danger she is about to squander her talent. “My focus for 2009 is on Berlin (the World Championships), but I know I’m going to have to continue to work and stay grounded."