Africa’s Fastest Woman Pays Homage To One Of The Greatest Sprinters In History

As an act of respect to one of the greatest athletes in history, Marie-Josee Ta Lou-Smith did one of the most amazing track things in Jamaica.

Fresh from helping Cote D’ Ivoire qualify for the Paris Olympic Games in the women’s 100m event at the World Relays in the Bahamas, Marie-Josee Ta Lou-Smith showed up in Jamaica to pay her respect to rival and close friend Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.

The fastest woman in African history traveled to the country home of Fraser-Pryce, where she is scheduled to officially kick off her season at the Jamaica Invitational to begin her quest for a first Olympic medal in Paris.

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On arrival at the world’s speed factory, Ta Lou-Smith visited the statue of Fraser-Pryce to pay homage to arguably the greatest female sprinter in history.

Despite being rivals on the track, their sismance relationship is graciously envied in the athletics community, and their successes make them role models to several young athletes.

The Ivorian is arguably Africa’s greatest female 100m runner all-time, having won world championships sprints medals, owns the African Record (AR) of 10.72s (sixth-fastest in world history), and has qualified for every major championship final in the past decade.

Fraser-Pryce on the other hand, is regarded as a legendary 100m sprinter as a two-time Olympic champion and five-time world champion in the event.

They are constantly motivating each other, one which Ta Lou-Smith will disclose in an interview with BBC Sports after falling short of winning a medal at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest.

“My sister, Shelly, won’t let me give up on running,” she said of the 36-year-old Jamaican.

“She is constantly reminding me that she is older than me and she is still going strong. Her words are loud in my head every single day, and she never gets exhausted of motivating me to wake every morning and do what I like.”