Jamaicans sprinting out of poverty

KINGSTON: Shelly-Ann Fraser can thank her mother's uneasy relationship with the Jamaican police for helping her become an Olympic sprint champion.

Maxine Fraser, who brought up her daughter in one of the Caribbean's meanest ghettos, believes her quickfire genes have been passed on to the 21-year-old, who led a Jamaican clean sweep in the 100m final in Beijing on Sunday.

Maxine has had to live on her wits all of her life and working as a street vendor she regularly has to put in a blinding turn of pace if police are chasing her for illegal trading.