If you have been anywhere near any form of media, then you must know by now about the Paris Olympics games on every platform, especially with the track events going on at the moment.
Among many contentious situations happening in the Olympics, one that seemed to be super controversial has been the short-distance heats, particularly the 100m women’s sprint that concluded on Sunday. Millions of athletics fans were anticipating the race that promised to be star-studded with the best athletes expected to battle it out for the coveted gold medal in the finals. This mostly includes athletes from the USA and Jamaica with names like Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (Jamaica), Sha’Carri Richardson (USA) and Elaine Thompson (Jamaica) among others. The latter, however, pulled out from the competition in June announcing that she wouldn’t be competing due to an Achilles injury.
Unfortunately, the race seemed to take an unexpected turn on Saturday when reports of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce pulled out of the sem-finals due to a feared injury. This was later confirmed when the letters “DNS” (Did Not Start), flashed on the scoreboard only moments before she was supposed to race Sha’Carri Richardson and Julien Alfred in the evening’s second semifinal.
This was then confirmed by the Team Jamaica head and the athlete herself after the race on social media the following day.
“It is difficult for me to find the words to describe the depth of my disappointment,” she posted. “I know that my supporters share and shoulder this disappointment with me. I am truly Blessed to have had the steadfast support of my fans since my Olympic debut in 2008.”
This was disappointing for many fans who had been waiting for the best athletes in the 100m category to battle it out against each other for the big prize.
However, this was preceded by alot of online controversy as videos and reports came out before the official statement showing athletes including Fraser-Pryce and Richardson, having trouble getting past security as they tried to reach the track for warmup. In one video, Fraser-Pryce was shown saying, “They’ve changed the rules. We came through this gate before but now they’re saying athletes who have left can’t use this gate.”
This seemed to spark alot of outrage towards the Olympics organisers from fans who believed that this could have had something to do with why Fraser-Pryce in particular missed the semifinal sprint. This was also reiterated by pundits on broadcasting channels demanding answers as to why an accomplished athlete like Fraser-Pryce who is regarded as one of the best of all time was being denied access to the track.
Despite all the backlash, the organisers still haven’t officially confirmed why the rules of accessing the track were seemingly changed suddenly. And even though the athlete herself confirmed that her absence was due to an unfortunate injury, there are still many fans till now who are angry about the turn of events. You can understand the disappointment as a favourite missed what could have been her last 100m Olympics sprint ever.
