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Growing up, Fraser-Pryce's mother was always her source of inspiration.
She might be a multiple world and Olympic champion at the moment but Jamaican sprint star Shelly-Anne Fraser-Pryce has disclosed that she never liked athletics growing up.
Fraser-Pryce noted that her mother forced her to take up athletics since at the time, she believed it was the only way to pull the family from poverty.
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16:00 - 01.08.2023
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Her main focus at the moment is to successfully defend her world title when she heads to Budapest later this month.
In an exclusive interview with Athletics Weekly, Fraser-Pryce said: “I never wanted to go to practice. I am not ashamed to say I didn’t want to do track at first. I was forced!
I was forced because my mum thought, being from a poor community, this was going to be my way out. I never got it until later when I actually accepted that, ‘Okay, this could possibly be true’.”
She added that growing up, her mother was always her source of inspiration. She revealed that her mother was off to a good start in her career as well but got pregnant when she was younger and could not actualise the dream.
However, she noted that it did not stop her mother from working around the clock to ensure the family never lacked.
“I would see her day in day out getting up and going to work. She’s the first person I know that was committed and dedicated and was relentless in her pursuit of making sure that she provided for us. Those are the things I took on.
She really inspired me to push even when I didn’t want to push. She was always just there. She showed up for everything. It’s because of her that I went to the University of Technology in Kingston and began working with [my former coach] Stephen Francis,” she said.
At the moment, Fraser-Pryce said her five-year-old son keeps her motivated. “He looks up to me. When I’m leaving for practice he goes, ‘Bye pocket rocket’,” she added.
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