"I'm not the world record holder, I'm a championship record holder" - Shericka Jackson on Florence Griffith Joyner's WR legitimacy after drug scandal

Shericka Jackson won the women's 200m in the ongoing 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest. She ran her sprint in a spectacular 21.41 seconds to create a championship record.

Jackson's 21.41 seconds was just 0.07 seconds more than Florence Griffith-Joyner's world record of 21.34 seconds, which she created during the 1988 Summer Olympics.

However, Griffith-Joyner's world record had raised a number of suspicions given the 1988 drug scandal. In a post-race press conference, Jackson expressed her views on Griffith-Joyner's world record, saying:

"If a person has never failed a test, I cannot comment on any world record. It is a world record."

"When you see that time comes up, you will see the championship record, [not] world record. So I'm not the world record holder. I'm a championship record holder," she added.

Griffith-Joyner's records in the women's 100m and 200m still stand unbroken. The drugs scandal during the 1988 Summer Olympics held in Seoul raised a number of doubts about her consuming prohibited performance-enhancing drugs even though she tested negative for doping charges.

Griffith Joyner's untimely death in 1998, when she was 38 years old, sent a shock wave. She suffered an epileptic seizure in her sleep. The post-mortem report also failed to point out any prolonged use of doping.

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Shericka Jackson wrote two times on her bib number for the 200m at the 2023 World Athletics Championships

Shericka Jackson after winning the women's 200m at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest

Shericka Jackson won the women's 200m leaving behind Gabby Thomas who completed the race in 21.81 seconds. Sha'Carri Richardson had to settle for the third place with a time of 21.92 seconds.

Jackson's 21.41 seconds made her the second-fastest woman in the 200m. In the post-race press conference, she informed that she had written two times on her bib for the 200m race and the slowest of them was 21.40 seconds.

"I wrote two times on my bib today and the slowest one I wrote was 21.40. I got 21.41," said Jackson.

Shericka Jackson informed she was not feeling best in her health during the race. The Jamaican did not disclose the other timing that she wrote but said it was definitely less than 21.41 seconds.

"Honestly when I cross the line and saw the time I was like ah.....I'm close, I'm close'," she said. "I was super exhausted. I'm not feeling 100% I'm kind of under the weather so it is not disappointing."

Shericka Jackson will further compete in the women's 4x100m relay event scheduled on Day 8 i.e. on August 26, 2023, in the afternoon session.