Shericka Jackson, the fastest woman alive over 200m, has withdrawn from Jamaica’s team to the Commonwealth Games that got underway in Birmingham, England on Thursday, Sportsmax.TV sources in the United Kingdom have indicated.
Jackson, 28, won a gold and two silver medals at the recently concluded World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
She won the 200m in 21.45, a new lifetime best and national record and is the second fastest time ever run by a woman. Only the late Florence Griffith-Joyner who ran 21.34 at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea has run faster.
She was second in the 100m in a personal best of 10.73 and anchored Jamaica to the silver medal in the 4x100m relay.
The best active combination sprinter in history as the only woman with global medals in the 100m, 200m and 400m, Jackson was named in a 47-member team that will represent Jamaica in track and field at the Commonwealth Games but impeccable sources have indicated that a decision has been made by her handlers to withdraw her participation.
However, Garth Gayle, president of the Jamaica Athletic Administrative Association (JAAA), he has not yet been informed of the decision. “No, I have no such knowledge or such information,” he said.
Sources suggest that instead of flying to Birmingham, Jackson will travel to Italy where she will camp with the MVP Track Club and compete on the circuit for the remainder of the season.
Calls to Jackson’s agent, Adrian Laidlaw, went unanswered.