While her future in the sport remains uncertain, Jamaican sprint icon Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce says she is overwhelmed by the support she’s received after an unpredictable 2024 season.

The two-time 100m Olympic champion and five-time 100m World champion was unable to vie for a medal in her final Olympic Games as she withdrew from the semi-finals of the women’s 100m and the women’s 4x100m events in Paris in August due to injury. It was the first time that Fraser-Pryce had not medalled in a major championships she competed in.

Coming off her 2023 campaign where she won two medals at the World Championships in Budapest, Fraser-Pryce only managed to compete in five races. She opened her season on June 15 at the JAAA Olympic French Foray at the National Stadium, clocking 11.15 seconds, less than two weeks before the start of the National Senior Championships.

However, the 37-year-old showed her class in her three races at the championships and qualified for the Paris Games, clocking 10.94 seconds for third in the final.

She did compete in the heats of the women’s 100m at the Olympics, clocking 10.92 seconds, but did not show for the semi-finals and subsequently left Paris.

During the games, Fraser-Pryce who has been running professionally since 2007, clarified that it was her final Olympics and not necessarily her final year in track and field.

However, at the Pocket Rocket Foundation Scholarship Awards Presentation at the AC Hotel in Kingston on Wednesday, she declined to comment on her future.

“I cannot answer that question currently,” Fraser-Pryce said.

She did, however, express her gratitude to her supporters for the outpouring of love she’s received.

“I’m always so proud of the support that I get from home,” she said. “It’s truly something that continues to hold me up, and to see the love and the support from my fellow Jamaicans is truly something I’m grateful for.

“I just want to say thank you, guys, for the support. Thank you for all that you continue to do for the Pocket Rocket and continue to just hold that belief that at the end of the day, things happen and we can’t control everything that happens, but we too can navigate that journey and I’m glad I have [the supporters] with me. And as Jamaicans would say, ‘wi likkle but wi tallawah’. That continues to be a motto we hold dear to our hearts.”

Fraser-Pryce, though, says she’s gained more appreciation for her achievements after her viral moments in Paris with New Zealand Rugby Sevens player Michaela Blyde.

Fraser-Pryce met Blyde and attended her match during the Olympics after Blyde expressed a strong admiration for the Jamaican on social media.

“When I met her, and just her presence and everything about her and how she spoke of me, really just put things in perspective for me — for an athlete and what I’ve been able to accomplish as an athlete, and how others are inspired by that,” she said. “It’s why I continue to do what I do because I know that there are athletes out there that need that inspiration, there are athletes out there that can take something from your journey, and it’s truly remarkable to be able to witness that with her and to have that friendship and that bond.

“It just makes me proud and I’m truly humbled and grateful to God for the platform that He has given me and how much I’ve been able to carry not only myself but also the national flag. It’s truly a moment for me, for all Jamaica, that even though we’re a tiny dot on the map, we’re huge when it comes to our impact and how persons look at us and how much they emulate and [try to] be like us.”

Fraser-Pryce is the third-fastest woman in history with a personal best of 10.60 seconds set in 2021. She also holds the record for most sprint medals at the World Championships with 16.