Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce on legacy, retirement plans, motherhood, being a ‘hot girl’

Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce dominated women’s sprinting for the last 15 years. In a recent interview, the five-time world 100m champion and eight-time Olympic medalist reflected on legacy, motherhood, retirement plans, life lessons and Black beauty.

*Edited for length and clarity.

OlympicTalk: You are one of the fastest women in the world, the Mommy Rocket herself. A lot of people see your success now but don’t understand where you came from. Can you describe what growing up in Waterhouse, Jamaica was like? 

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce: Waterhouse is a really big neighborhood in Kingston, and it was one of those places where you don’t really have a lot of positive role models. You’re stuck with seeing the influences of other individuals around you and trying to find your way as a teenager.

I lived in a group of homes in a big space called a tenement yard with my two brothers and my mom. The four of us slept on one bed. We had to adjust the way we slept — two heads at the top and two heads at the bottom — to make sure everybody could fit. My bathroom was actually outside. My mom would have to follow me outside and wait for me there as I showered to get ready for school.

A lot of people from my community went to very good schools, but a lot of them didn’t pass. For the girls, they didn’t pass third form (eighth or ninth grade) because they got pregnant. A lot of the boys didn’t survive first form (seventh grade) because they would drop out, join gangs or just skip school to smoke. It was difficult to see that your friends were getting pregnant and just having one kid after another at that age.

I had a strict mom who was really passionate about track and field. From an early age, she always told me that the sport