Sharrieffa Barksdale is a 1984 Olympian and trailblazer in the women’s 400-meter hurdles. She made history as the first American woman to break the 55-second barrier in the event, setting an American record of 54.90 seconds. A proud native of Harriman, Tennessee, Barksdale also earned a silver medal at the Pan American Games during her distinguished competitive career.
Barksdale has been inducted into the University of Tennessee Athletics Hall of Fame, Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame, Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame and Harriman High School Hall of Fame. She is also a recipient of the WISE Woman of Inspiration Award.
Barksdale joined USA Track & Field in 2016 and has served in a variety of roles supporting athletes, teams and programs. Her international team experience includes staff positions at Olympic Games, World Championships, World Junior Championships and Pan American competitions. She has been part of Team USATF at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, 2012 London Olympic Games, 2016 Rio Olympic Games and 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Before joining USATF, Barksdale worked in workforce development, providing career counseling, employment readiness training, job placement and case management services. She also worked with programs serving individuals facing barriers to employment, including formerly incarcerated individuals, and helped achieve an 85 percent employment retention rate through a Second Chance program.
Barksdale is the founder and CEO of the Sharrieffa Barksdale Track Foundation, which provides educational resources, mentoring and community support to young people. In her hometown of Harriman, she helped rebuild a track that now bears her name and has donated laptops to graduating seniors at Harriman High School.
She is also the founder of One-On-One Training Academy and Born2BeElite in Cape Town, South Africa, and co-founder of Maximum Velocity Academy.
Barksdale competed for the Lady Vols at University of Tennessee where she studied Early Childhood Development while building an outstanding collegiate track and field career.
Outside of work Sharrieffa is a song writer, singer, and loves to spend time with her children.
Barksdale is the proud mother of two children Gentel Sharrie and Javarus.