IN a deeply personal and emotional revelation, Jamaican sprint icon Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce has broken her silence on why she abruptly withdrew from the semi-finals of the women’s 100m at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

Speaking for the first time in detail in the July 2025 issue of Marie Claire, “Women in Sports” issue, Fraser-Pryce laid bare the mental and emotional toll that led to her withdrawal from what was expected to be her final Olympic appearance.
“Last year was very hard for me mentally and physically,” she told journalist Emily Abbate. “I’ve always done it for the flag and showed up to do it for my country. But what happened in Paris, that was a ‘me’ decision.”

Fraser-Pryce had breezed through her heat in a confident 10.92 seconds and was basking in what she called “that final Olympics feeling.”
But the day of the semi-finals, everything changed. Upon arriving at the Stade Annexe, she was denied entry at the same gate she had used the day before. “They tell me that the gate is closed, and I’m like, ‘Well, the track is right there.’” Despite waiting for 30 minutes as stadium staff made calls, she was never allowed through.
For an elite athlete, every ounce of energy counts. Walking the longer route with a heavy bag, past spectators and distractions, threw off her meticulously timed pre-race routine. When she finally got to the track, an hour behind schedule, her body began to shut down. “I was probably having a panic attack,” she admitted. “I felt I could see it in front of me—and it was ripped [out of my hands].”

Unable to get into rhythm, her legs cramping and her mind spiralling, Fraser-Pryce made the gut-wrenching decision to pull out. As the world watched a semi-final with a glaringly empty lane where Lane 4 should have featured the legendary Jamaican, she was walking back toward her Airbnb. When her son Zyon asked, “Mommy, why didn’t you run?” Fraser-Pryce broke down in tears.
In the days that followed, she fled to New York City with her family to heal. “I went through so much grief and sadness,” she wrote in a note to herself earlier this year. “But I’m giving God thanks for the ways he showed up for me, nonetheless.”

This wasn’t the first time Fraser-Pryce had faced adversity. She recalled the devastation of her 2016 toe injury and the surprise pregnancy that followed, a moment that made her question her future in the sport. She kept her pregnancy a secret for a long time, even from her mother, afraid of the stigma and the assumption that motherhood would end her career.
But Fraser-Pryce came back stronger. In 2019, just over two years after giving birth to Zyon, she stunned the world by winning the 100m at the World Championships in Doha in 10.71 seconds, capturing her eighth world title. “I believe in the power of alignment,” she said. “When things are aligned, no one and nothing on this earth can stop that.” (Sportsmax)