She’s competed in five Olympic Games, won three gold medals (plus four silvers and a bronze!), and is considered the third-fastest woman of all time. On the track, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is best known for the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it 100-meter dash. Her personal record? Just 10.6 seconds.
The race may be short, but Fraser-Pryce makes a lasting impact. There’s her speed, of course—but also her style. In those ten seconds, she’s a flash of green, purple, or pink hair.
In the latest episode of the Marie Claire podcast "Nice Talk", Fraser-Pryce tells editor-in-chief Nikki Ogunnaike what her hairstyles mean to her—and how they actually help her win.
The Jamaican sprinter starts planning her look well in advance of competitions. “I’m knowing where I’m going. I’m knowing the color of the flags. I know what color I did the year before and that I don’t want to do anymore,” she says. “It gives you this excitement.”
But it’s not just about debuting a new look. “It forces you to kind of take your mind off the competition,” the 38-year-old explains. “Because it can help you to really just settle the nerves and not make the competition the sole focus.”
Fraser-Pryce says some runners prefer to be completely locked in—and that’s fine. But for her, “then everything becomes the competition. And then you find that if you constantly do that, then it makes the moment too big—that you feel like you can’t fit in the moment.”
“I want to make sure that I’m enjoying the moment,” she adds. “So for me, I plan my hair. I ship my hair, if I have to. I buy the color. Sometimes I do it myself.”
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce with Jamaican flag-colored hair at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.
There’s another layer to her hair choices: representing where she’s from. “I’m from an inner city, right? So they’re known for styles—like big earrings, gold teeth, different wigs and colors. That’s how they represent,” says Fraser-Pryce, who grew up in the Waterhouse area of Kingston.
Early in her career, she worried about “representing that way,” because people assumed that if “you had a gold filling on your tooth, or you had colored hair, or those big hoop earrings with your name in them, they kind of think you’re ghetto.”
“But for a lot of persons in my inner city or from Waterhouse, it’s making a statement. It’s like, ‘Hey, I’m here.’ You know, showing up. It’s representing that boldness and just standing out... Being able to honor that heritage in our culture is truly wonderful.”
It makes sense, then, that her haircare line, AFIMI, means “it’s mine” in Jamaican patois. “It’s really making sure that you take ownership of just who you are and how you want to show up—and how that helps you to be you and to be your best.”
For more from Fraser-Pryce—including her early life in Kingston, the upcoming World Championships in Tokyo, and why she chooses harmony over balance when it comes to motherhood and career—check out this week's installment of "Nice Talk". The episode is available everywhere you listen to podcasts.