Only goal is to win, says ever-competitive veteran Fraser-Pryce / Photo: JOHN THYS - Belga/AFP
Only goal is to win, says ever-competitive veteran Fraser-Pryce
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce may be at the back end of her illustrious career, but the Jamaican sprinter insists she still has her "champion mindset" and is looking forward to going "full circle" at next month's world championships.
"People sometimes ask me if I still have anything to lose at 38, with my track record. Of course I do! I'm a fierce competitor, my only goal is to win! Even at 38," Fraser-Pryce said ahead of Friday's Diamond League meet in Brussels.
"If I didn't believe it was possible, I wouldn't be doing this anymore.
"Every time I step to the line, the goal is to win.
"It doesn't matter how it looks to me because I'm crazy. It's just about going out there and just being competitive and not just showing up to show."
Fraser-Pryce has struggled this season to hit the speeds she once did.
She faces tough competition in Brussels from a strong American trio, Sha'Carri Richardson, the reigning world champion and Olympic silver medallist, in-form Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, who tops the world-leading list, and Maia McCoy, who has twice timed sub-11sec sprints this season.
"A fast time on Friday would certainly be a confidence booster, but the most important thing is the technical execution. Then the fast time will come naturally," she said.
Having the worlds in Tokyo "is definitely a full circle moment", Fraser-Pryce having kicked off her senior career at the 2007 world champs in Osaka.
"Being able to finish in a country that I started in is fantastic. It's a beautiful story," she said.
"After the disappointing Paris Games, I took my time to recover and rebuild," she said in reference to her pulling out of her Olympic 100m semi-final last year with injury.
"I am healthy and have trained hard over the past few months. I am ready to go for a sixth world title in Tokyo!"
- No secret to success -
Fraser-Pryce, the third-fastest woman of all time in the 100m with a time of 10.60, has won three Olympic gold medals and 10 world titles, with a total of 25 Olympic and world medals to her name.
"My secret? There is no secret," she maintained. "My training discipline has brought me this far, and I get so much joy from the sport.
"I enjoy it immensely and am very grateful for everything I have achieved in my career and have been able to experience.
"I'm still very passionate. And competing at a high level, it's no secret that you have to be disciplined.
"You have to work hard. And I think the fundamental or the primary thing right now for me is, I still enjoy what I do. And I think that's the greatest feeling."
Fraser-Pryce added: "Good training alone is not enough, you also have to be able to translate that into competition. I want to nail my start on Friday, and I also want to see other technical details that I have worked hard on translated into competition."
The decision to hang up her spikes, however, had not been a tough one.
"It wasn't difficult at all," she said. "For me, I've been privileged, I'm blessed to be able to have had a lot of success in track and have some fantastic memories.
"While I'm still working hard and maintaining emotion, I've not allowed my mind to get to a place of, 'Oh my God, I'm retiring'.
"I'm still focused on competing and I'm still focused on winning. So those things are priority in my head. So I'm not really thinking about retirement just yet."
B.Mclean--EWJ
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