Why did the Jamaican athlete deliberately slow down his sprint and be eliminated?

In the women's 200m preliminaries of the Tokyo Olympics, Jamaican athlete Shereka Jackson did a very stupid thing. She was originally in second place, maybe because she thought she was in a safe place. It was the finals, and there was no need to go all out. In order to preserve her strength, she made a decision that she regretted greatly. She deliberately slowed down in the final sprint, causing herself to be surpassed by two players in a row when crossing the line. In the end, they only ranked 4th and missed the finals. The reason why she did this is actually very simple. In track and field competitions, in order to win the gold medal in the final, it is normal for athletes to choose to preserve their strength in the preliminaries or even the semi-finals. This is a means of adjusting their state. There are many The players were all in too good shape in the previous games, resulting in their poor performance in the finals, and missed the final gold medal. It was understandable for Sherika Jackson to do this, but she was a little careless and did not realize that the players behind her were very close to her. Once she slowed down, she would be overtaken by the opponent. This led to her final elimination and also cost herself. The behavior became a joke.

There are many such precedents in track and field competitions. The most famous one is Bolt. Bolt has used this method many times in the preliminaries to slow down in the final sprint stage. to adjust his condition, and he succeeded every time. The reason why Bolt can succeed is because Bolt is strong enough. Under normal circumstances, Bolt's lead is relatively large, and Bolt will also observe the position of the athletes behind him and then adjust himself. speed.

Shereka Jackson obviously does not have this strength. She is not in the leading position. Before slowing down, she was only in the second position, and the lead is not very big. It is a very stupid behavior to choose to slow down when the time is right, and it is also the result of overestimating one's own strength. This behavior is not in line with the Olympic concept of higher, faster, and stronger. In the end, being eliminated can only be said to be the fault of oneself.

Athletes participating in the Olympic Games should give their best in every game. For example, my country's 100-meter athlete Su Bingtian showed his best ability in every game and ran in the semi-finals of the 100-meter race. Su Bingtian achieved his best result and broke the Asian record. Although the final was not as good as the semi-final and only ranked sixth in the end, Su Bingtian won everyone's applause.

Shereka Jackson’s own strength is still very good, but this behavior is really disappointing. The essence of sports competition is to break through the limits of human beings, and Shereka Jackson wants to Using such a method to preserve strength is really a bad example. Her elimination also served as a warning to other athletes that if they do not take the game seriously, they will be punished accordingly.

I hope that all athletes can give full play to their strongest strength in the competition, so that they can be worthy of the audience and their own efforts. I hope Sherica Jackson can learn a lesson and not do this again in the future. .