Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is aiming to become the first female sprinter to win 100 metres golds at three straight Olympics, her coach Stephen Francis has said.
The pint-sized Jamaican captured the gold in Beijing in 2008 – her breakout year – and followed up by defending it at the 2012 London Olympics.
Topping the podium in the women’s marquee event at Rio in 2016 would be Fraser-Pryce’s goal.
“I think the most pressing thing for her is to be the first woman to win three Olympic gold medals in the 100m,” Francis said.
“Secondly to see if she can run the double (100m and 200m) in Brazil – that would be a big goal for her. So I think over the next couple of years, we will do all work required to reach that goal and we’ll see what happens.”
Fraser-Pryce, 27, burst onto the international scene in Beijing six years ago, becoming the first Jamaican woman to win the 100m at an Olympics.
A year later at the Berlin World Championships she emphasised her status as the best in the world in the event, when she also won gold there.
In London two years ago, she faced a huge threat from American star Carmelita Jeter but dismissed that challenge to storm to gold again.
Francis, who has overseen Fraser-Pryce’s preparation as an international athlete, said the sprinter had done an incredible job in managing herself as one of the world’s elite sprinters.
“What Shelly has done which has pleased me most [is that] she has mastered the trick of staying good. I tell them all the time that it’s far easier to get good than to stay good,” he pointed out.
“If she can keep it up then I don’t know how much limit she has..”