Olympics 2024: Why Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce missed 100m semifinal at Olympics

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce talks to a bus driver after allegedly being refused entry to the Stade de France.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the Jamaican former Olympic champion, pulled out of the women’s Olympic 100 metres with injury shortly before her semifinal following footage of an apparent argument over access to the warm-up track.

The 37-year-old, who won the Olympic 100m title in 2008 and 2012, had earlier been filmed on social media in a heated discussion with stewards but was then later seen warming up in the usual area well before the scheduled semifinal time.

It is understood that both Fraser-Pryce and world champion Sha’Carri Richardson had initially been denied access to the separate warm-up area adjacent to the Stade de France but Richardson did safely negotiate her semifinal, finishing behind Julien Alfred in 10.89s. Alfred went on to win gold in the final ahead of second-placed Richardson.

World Athletics said that Fraser-Pryce’s withdrawal was purely injury-related.

Footage on social media showed Fraser-Pryce talking to a bus driver at an entrance gate about struggling to gain access to the stadium, saying: “She’s [security] said they changed the rule yesterday. How can they change the rule and then not say? So you’re asking all the athletes who for whatever reason don’t stay in the village, they can’t come through the gate. That’s crazy.”

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce 🇯🇲 voicing out over a change of rules between yesterday & today.

She is supposedly not being allowed into the warmup area.#Paris2024  pic.twitter.com/auANpTeuda

— Track & Field Gazette (@TrackGazette) August 3, 2024

Fraser-Pryce is competing at her final Olympic Games before retirement and had qualified impressively through her first round heat on Saturday and was widely thought to be in contention for an unprecedented fifth straight 100m medal.

She has won 24 Olympic and World Championship medals and, depending on the severity of her injury, could still join Jamaica’s 4x100m relay team later this week, with whom she won a gold medal at the Tokyo Games in 2021. Fraser-Pryce had appeared in her first major championships some 17 years ago when she was part of Jamaica’s 4x100m relay team at the 2007 World Championships.

However, reports were emerging that Fraser-Pryce had tweaked a hamstring in the warm-up, putting in doubt her appearance in the relay.

Asher-Smith at a loss to explain poor run

Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith also missed the 100m final after exiting in the semifinals with what, by her standards, was a dreadful performance. Drawn in one of the more inviting of the three races, she was slow out of the blocks and never looked like making her way into one of the top-two positions that qualified automatically. Asher-Smith had run 10.96s during the European Championships earlier this year, where she had narrowly won gold, but recorded her joint-slowest time of the year here – 11.10s – to finish only fifth.

Asher-Smith was at a loss to explain her performance ahead of the 200m heats on Sunday, a distance over which she has previously won World Championship gold. “I am very disappointed,” said Asher-Smith. “I’m in great shape and have been running great all season. I fully expected to make that final. The race wasn’t even fast. I was in a great mental place. I should have made that. There are no thoughts, you just run. I know I’m in a lot better shape than that. I just go on to the 200 metres. I am excited to attack it.”

Hear it as it happens with live commentary of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on GOLD SPORT & iHeartRadio, plus comprehensive coverage on Newstalk ZB.