By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Jamaican sprint icon Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce withdrew from the Olympic 100m competition before her semi-final at Paris 2024 on Saturday.
The 37-year-old, a five-time world and two-time Olympic 100m champion, is competing at her final Games before retirement.
Fraser-Pryce qualified from her heat on Saturday but did not line up to compete for a place in the final.
But she could yet add to her total haul of 24 global medals as part of Jamaica’s women’s 4x100m team, who won gold in Tokyo three years ago.
An official reason has not been given for Fraser-Pryce’s withdrawal but ahead of her semi final on Saturday night, which was scheduled to start at 18.59pm, the acronym ‘DNS’ – which stands for ‘did not start’ – was next to the Jamaican sprinter’s name.
Before the race, Fraser-Pryce was denied access to the Stade de France at the perimeter security gate due to a last-minute rule change which was applied to all athletes attempting to gain entry to the stadium on Saturday.
Athletes who do not stay at the Olympic Village and arrive on the team bus have been ordered to take a different route. Fraser-Pryce was among the athletes who walked from the entrance gate to the stadium.
In a video which circulated on social media, Fraser-Pryce said: ‘She [a security member] said they changed the rule yesterday.
“How can you change the rule and then not say? So you’re asking all athletes who, for whatever reason don’t stay at the village, they can’t come through the gate.”
“We came through this gate yesterday and went through security and it was okay. They want us to go all the way up to where everybody is exiting… that’s crazy!”
Fraser-Pryce was bidding to make the 100m podium at a fifth successive Olympic Games after being denied a third title by team-mate Elaine Thompson-Herah in Tokyo three years ago.
The third-fastest woman in history with a personal best of 10.60, Fraser-Pryce annouced her decision to retire in February – 17 years after she first appeared on the global stage for Jamaica’s 4x100m relay team at the 2007 World Championships.