Fred Kerley shares old motivational message from himself as a teenager

Olympic medalist Fred Kerley recently shared an old memory on his X account. The 29-year-old sprinter shared a motivational Facebook post from his teenage years, which revealed his ambitions for the future.

In the Facebook post written on February 14, 2012, Kerley wrote,

"Man i just a kid from Taylor tx just trying to live life to the fullest and just trying to make it out of Taylor. I will make it out, and 'if you don't dream big, there's no use of dreaming. If you don't have faith, there's nothing worth believing. One thing I want to say to everybody, believe in your dream. Don't believe in what everybody say. Just believe in yourself."

Kerley has been posting similar motivational posts on his X account every alternate day. On October 15, he posted on his X account,

"I like to think that I was created For a special purpose. Greatness baby"

Fred Kerley made it to the finals of the men's 100m event at the Paris Olympics and was expected to give tough competition to the Jamaican sprinter Kishane Thompson. However, Kerley's teammate Noah Lyles surprised everyone by edging out Thompson for the gold medal. Kerley clocked a seasonal best of 9.81 seconds to clinch the bronze medal.

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Fred Kerley on his rollercoaster 2024 season

Silesia Diamond League Chorzow 2024 - Source: Getty

Fred Kerley hoped to turn the silver medal that he won at the men's 100m in the 2020 Tokyo Games (held in 2021) into a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Sadly, it didn't turn out to be as he would have desired.

Kerley finished third with a season-best of 9.81 seconds to clinch the bronze medal, while his teammate Noah Lyles and Jamaican Kishane Thompson won the gold medal and the silver medal, respectively. Kerley also had the misfortune to see his relay team being disqualified in the finals of the 4x100m relay event at the Paris Olympics.

Reflecting on his 2024 season, Kerley wrote on his X account [formerly Twitter] a couple of weeks ago,

"Lost my soul a few time this year. Still standing stronger than ever. You can’t stop God blessing."

In an earlier interview with Olympics.com in 2023, the 29-year-old sprinter mentioned on what keeps him going.

""At the end of the day, we all had fun, we enjoyed ourselves and are doing great things right now. What motivates me is coming from what I come from and not being in the same predicament. Keep on accomplishing great things. You don’t want to be in the same position as you were when you were younger," mentioned the athlete.

Fred Kerley ended his rollercoaster season with a third position in the 100m event at the Wanda Diamond League Finals 2024, which was won by Ackeem Blake of Jamaica.