Digicel is really promoting sport in the Caribbean so its now wonder that Olympic 100 metres champion Shelly-Ann Fraser has become the telecoms giant’s ambassador too.
Fraser joins world male athlete of the year, Usain Bolt, as a Digicel ambassador after signing a four-year endorsement contract with the mobile company.
Fraser’s contract will run until the 2012 Olympic Games in London and was inked by the parties at the Courtleigh Hotel in Kingston on Monday.
Under the terms of the agreement Fraser, who clocked a personal record 10.78 seconds in winning the 100m in Beijing in August, will receive an incentive bonus each time she breaks a record – national, championships, personal, Olympic or world.
The deal will also involve company endorsements, participation in campaigns, and special appearances though the dollar value was not revealed.
‘It is about development and we want to create an atmosphere for success,’ Digicel head of marketing Wayne Miller said of the decision behind the deal.
‘Athletics in Jamaica is a very big thing and for us Shelly-Ann is a fit for our organisation.’.
Digicel was also responsible for flying Fraser’s mother, Maxine Simpson, to Beijing after her daughter became the first Jamaican woman to win an Olympic 100m gold medal.
Fraser, who returned to training a few weeks ago, said that she hopes to lower her record in the upcoming season.
‘I’m feeling much stronger than last season, which is good, and I’m just going to continue to train hard and focus more,’ she said.
‘I haven’t any target for times right now but I’m just training hard as usual,’ she added.
Fraser plans to compete at the Mount Sac Relays early in the season as she prepares for next year’s IAAF World Championships which will be held in Berlin, Germany August 15-23, but said the January/February Telstra meet in Australia may not be on the agenda as she wants to focus on her education at the University of Technology.
She said: ‘I’m not an ‘A’ student, but I am good enough and I like to know that behind track and field I have something else there and I really want a degree and it means a lot because nobody in my family ever got one.
‘As it relates to the 200 metres, it’s a big possibility, but it is up to my coach, as, if he thinks that it is in my best interest, I will do it, as I am always looking for ways to expand myself.’
Related Videos
