One of the favorites to take home the gold in the women’s 100-meter París competition was Shericka Jackson. But on Wednesday, the Jamaican revealed that she would “only be running the 200 meters,” which completely changed everything. The track and field community was taken aback by the decision, which also generated a lot of conjecture about how and why it may have occurred.
In a conversation at the Puma House in Pairs, Shericka says, “This decision is to protect my body.” “As I said for the last three years I’ve been competing in both events, and I think this decision is due to a combination of both just focusing on one event and the injury backlash from Hungary.” Early in July, Jackon had a knee injury at the European event, forcing him to quit the race early. The moment the Jamaican competitor was spotted with a bandage on her left knee soon after the race, alarms went off.
Fans of the sport are extremely disappointed by this news. Shericka has improved tremendously since taking home gold in the 4×100 relay, bronze in the 100m, and bronze in the 4x400m relay in Tokyo. The Jamaican took home gold in the 200m and silver in the 100m at the Eugene World Champions in 2022. She duplicated her previous year’s achievements in Budapest, where she took home gold and silver in the same competitions. She was just beaten by Sha’Carri Richardson in the 100. Their rivalry in the event has received a lot of attention, particularly in the last 12 months. It has been added to the extensive list of the USA vs. Jamaica track and fieldtrack and field rivalries over the years.
Sincerely, I’ve been around for a very long time when it comes to the rivalry between Jamaica and the USA. It’s been a consistent issue since 2008,” Shericka says. For instance, in Paris, there are eight competitors who line up in the final, thus there is competition between all eight of them, not just one or two. Since I began watching the Olympics, I am aware that the two nations have been involved in a rivalry. However, you have to accept that there are more countries competing than just two at the end of the day.”
