Zero-point-zero-six seconds! You can’t even imagine how little time that is in the scale of normal life but in terms of the women’s 100-metre finals it was the difference between winning the gold medal and finishing third.
It was that fraction of a second that separated Shelly Ann Fraser – Pryce from the eight fastest women ever assembled in a global sprint final. Carmelita Jeter (10.64), Fraser – Pryce (10.70), Veronica Campbell – Brown (10.76), Kelli Ann Baptise (10.84), Alyson Felix (10.92), Blessing Okagbore (10.92), Tiana Madison (10.96) and Murielle Ahoure (10.99) meant that every woman in that final had run faster than 11 seconds. Never before has that been the case. In fact, the London final gave us the fastest third, fourth, sixth, seventh and eighth place times ever. Only Flo Jo’s 10.61 for first in 1988, Kerron’s Stewart’s 10.75 for second at the world championships in 2009 and Merlene Ottey’s 10.88 for fifth in Barcelona in 1992 have been faster; such was the depth and quality of the Olympic final run in London 2012.
I say all this to say that surely now, even though her international career is just about four years old, Shelly Ann Fraser- Pryce must already be in the conversation as to who is Jamaica’s best female sprinter and perhaps the best ever. Notwithstanding the significant accomplishments of Merlene Ottey, who has 23 global outdoor medals and several other indoor medals and Veronica Campbell – Brown who picked up her 15th global outdoor medal when she finished third, SAFP already has three individual gold medals from just four global championships. She is two-time Olympic 100-metre champion and a 100-metre world champion; that’s a win rate of 75 per cent. In her entire career at global championships Ottey won three global gold medals in a career. SAFP already has three, this from only her fourth global championships. She is one behind VCB who has four individual gold medals.
SAFP is already faster than her predecessors 10.70, 10.73, 10.75 and 10.78 when compared to Ottey’s 10.74, 10.78 (twice) and 10.79 and VCB’s 10.76 and 10.78, but it is clearly evident that she is capable of going much faster. Had she executed her race better yesterday 10.65 was not out of the realm of possibility. However, she did what she needed to do to win.
Yes, she is a long way off in terms of longevity but she also could be a long way off from the end of her career as well. Should SAFP go on to medal in the 200-metres or win it, and win at a similar rate as she takes on the rest of the world in Moscow in 2013 and in Beijing in 2015, before before heading into Rio for the 31st Olympiad in 2016 as a 30-year-old, the “Pocket Rocket” would without a doubt be Jamaica’s greatest ever female sprinter. She could by then also be immortalized as perhaps the best ever.
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