Paris Olympics: Nike Shuts Down Disrespect to Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Claim After Sha’Carri Richardson’s Statue Release

Nike seems to be going through a rough patch. The apparel giant is drawing widespread criticism for its newly unveiled costume for the USA tracks and field. In one more attempt to hype the Olympic environment, the brand erected three king-size statues of LeBron James, Sha’Carri Richardson, and Kylian Mbappé in the heart of the city. That gave rise to one more controversy.

Nike was accused of disrespecting track and field legend, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce by not including the 10x world champion in the lineup of the statues. As the dust from the debate regarding Nike’s preference for Sha’Carri Richardson over Fraser-Pryce looked not to settle, the conglomerate decided to think about new ways to tackle the matter. As a part of that, Nike hosted a unique show, ‘Nike On-Air event’, to flaunt Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in its special locker room of sporting gear.

The bigwigs from Nike such as Juliana Sagat, the head of Women’s Lifestyle Innovation and the lead footwear designer presented the Jamaican legend a show of Nike’s special range of footwear devised for the Paris Olympics. A snippet from the show was posted by Nike through its Instagram handle recently. Moreover, in unveiling the new range of products under the banner of Nike Air, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce received the company of Elliott Heath, the product manager. 

He also expressed his excitement while showing the products that come under the tag, ‘Reinvention of Air’. The sporting kits manufactured by Nike also received importance. However, Shelly enjoyed the ‘Future of Air’ the most. The jubilant Olympian couldn’t believe it when Elliott told her about the Nike Pegasus Premium, a futuristic shoe model. After seeing the model, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce could only concede, “Oh my God, you guys did this”. As it is said, better late than never. Fans seemed to have seen the reflection of the proverb in Nike’s attempt as they expressed with their comments. 

Fans content with Nike’s ‘correct’ gesture 

On X, a certain Jamaican fan hailed the queen after sniffing the victory over Nike.

Similar satisfaction echoed in the X-handle, lemondroplarry’s comment, hailing Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce as the ‘God’. 

The comments from the IG post did not fade as well. The fan, Sherise Gayle, complimented the 3x Olympic medalist as, “Shelly, THE Legend!”. Interestingly, amid showering praise over the Jamaican legend, the fans kept continuing to take a dig at Nike. 

One such came from the IG handle, mo_beatrix. Her jibe fell as “From the week start this is the only thing y’all got right”. On the X, the fan handle, Vannyboo came with almost similar thoughts. 

Meanwhile, enthusiasts did not miss the fashion quotient either. Along similar lines, a comment on Instagram read, “She’s so gorgeous😍 more Shelly content please”. Do you think that this is a damage control measure from Nike? Let us know in the comments.