The controversial Texan is favored to become the first American woman to win the Olympic 100 title since 1996.
PARIS – Sha’Carri Richardson isn’t apologizing.
She isn’t explaining.
Not for testing positive.
Not for her wardrobe.
Not for talking sh–.
Certainly not for her swagger.
Have a problem with Sha’Carri? That’s your problem.
To Richardson all of it, good and the bad, missing the Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for cannabis or running away with 100 meter title at the World Championships last summer, were just stepping stones to the here and now and what she is convinced is her place in history.
“Everything I’ve been through is everything I have been through to be in this moment right now,” Richardson said. “So there’s nothing I’ve been through that hasn’t designed me to be there right now in this moment.”
Richardson, the 24-year-old Texan, the heir apparent to Evelyn, to Gail, to Wilma and FloJo, has come to Paris to claim what she what she believes is her destiny, to reclaim an Olympic 100 gold medal hasn’t been won by an American woman since 1996, four years before she was born.
While Richardson long ago gave up on worrying about her critics she also acknowledges the Sha’Carri of 2024 isn’t the same Sha’Carri of 2021. Or even 2023.
“I’ve grown,” Richardson said “with a better understanding of myself, a deeper respect and appreciation for my gift that I have in the sport, as well as my responsibility to the people that believe in and support me.”
Those gifts were on full display at the Olympic Trials in Eugene in June where Richardson won in a world leading 10.71 seconds, further cementing her as the gold medal favorite when the 100 competition opens Friday at Stade de France.
Richardson’s favorite status was further bolstered Wednesday when Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson, the 2022 World Championships 100 and 200 champion, second to Richardson in the 100 at last year’s Worlds, withdrew from the 100 to focus on the 200. Elaine Thompson-Herah, the 100 and 200 champion at both the Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo Olympics, will also be absent after suffering an Achilles injury in June.
Richardson will still have to contend with St. Lucia’s Julien Alfred, a three-time NCAA champion at Texas, and her U.S. teammates and training partners Melissa Jefferson and Twanisha Terry, second and third respectively at the Olympic Trials.
Alfred won the 60 at the World Indoor Championships in March (Richardson did not compete in the event) and then clocked a 10.78 in the spring.
EUGENE, OREGON – JUNE 28: Sha’Carri Richardson competes in the women’s 200 meter semi-final on Day Eight of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Track & Field Trials at Hayward Field on June 28, 2024 in Eugene, Oregon. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Sha’Carri Richardson poses for a photo while riding on a boat with teammates along the Seine River in Paris, France, during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, Pool)
Sha’Carri Richardson, of the United States, shows off her nails while traveling along the Seine River, during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris on July 26, 2024. (Photo by Ashley Landis / POOL / AFP) (Photo by ASHLEY LANDIS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
PARIS, FRANCE – JULY 26: Sha’Carri Richardson poses for a photo while riding with teammates on a boat with teammates along the Seine River during the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on July 26, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Ashley Landis – Pool/Getty Images)
American Sha’Carri Richardson celebrates after winning the women’s 100-meter final at the World Championships on Monday in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)
FILE – Sha’Carri Richardson, of the United States, celebrates after winning the gold medal in the final of the women’s 100-meters during the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, Aug. 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek, File)
EUGENE, OREGON – JUNE 27: Sha’Carri Richardson competes in the first round of the women’s 200 meters on Day Seven of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Track & Field Trials at Hayward Field on June 27, 2024 in Eugene, Oregon. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
FILE = Sha’Carri Richardson, of the United States celebrates anchoring her team to gold ahead of Shericka Jackson, of Jamaica in the Women’s 4×100-meters relay final during the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, Aug. 26, 2023. When all the other fastest runners and best jumpers and throwers of 2024 line up for the Olympic track and field meet, little of what they’ve done on the road to Paris will mean much. What will matter is how they respond to pressure when the spotlight is on.(AP Photo/Denes Erdos, File)
Sha’Carri Richardson celebrates after winning the Women’s 200m during the New York Grand Prix at Icahn Stadium on June 12, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
EUGENE, OREGON - JUNE 19: Sha'Carri Richardson points to the sky after winning the Women's 100 Meter final on day 2 of the 2020 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Team Trials at Hayward Field on June 19, 2021 in Eugene, Oregon. "Last week, finding out my biological mother passed away and I'm still choosing to pursue my dreams, still coming out here, still here to make the family that I do have on this Earth proud," Richardson said to reporters after the race. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
EUGENE, OREGON - JUNE 19: Sha'Carri Richardson celebrates winning the Women's 100 Meter final on day 2 of the 2020 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Team Trials at Hayward Field on June 19, 2021 in Eugene, Oregon. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
FILE - JULY 2, 2021: It was reported that Sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson will not be able to participate in the 100-meter event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for marijuana at the U.S. Olympic Trials in June, July 2, 2021. EUGENE, OREGON - JUNE 19: Sha'Carri Richardson looks on after winning the Women's 100 Meter final on day 2 of the 2020 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Team Trials at Hayward Field on June 19, 2021 in Eugene, Oregon. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
FILE - JULY 2, 2021: It was reported that Sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson will not be able to participate in the 100-meter event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for marijuana at the U.S. Olympic Trials in June, July 2, 2021. EUGENE, OREGON - JUNE 19: Sha'Carri Richardson reacts after competing in the Women's 100 Meter Semi-finals on day 2 of the 2020 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Team Trials at Hayward Field on June 19, 2021 in Eugene, Oregon. (Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)
EUGENE, OREGON - JUNE 19: Sha'Carri Richardson celebrates winning the Women's 100 Meter final with grandmother Betty Harp on day 2 of the 2020 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Team Trials at Hayward Field on June 19, 2021 in Eugene, Oregon. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
In this June 19, 2021 photo, Sha’Carri Richardson celebrates after winning the first heat of the semis finals in women’s 100-meter runat the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Ore. Richardson cannot run in the Olympic 100-meter race after testing positive for a chemical found in marijuana. Richardson, who won the 100 at Olympic trials in 10.86 seconds on June 19, told of her ban Friday, July 2 on the “Today Show.”(AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
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EUGENE, OREGON – JUNE 28: Sha’Carri Richardson competes in the women’s 200 meter semi-final on Day Eight of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Track & Field Trials at Hayward Field on June 28, 2024 in Eugene, Oregon. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Then there’s Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the 37-year-old two-time Olympic, five-time World 100 champion, who finished third behind Richardson and Jackson at the 2023 Worlds.
Richardson, a former NCAA champion at LSU, emerged as the primary threat to Jamaica’s 12-year hold on the Olympic 100 title after running 10.72 at a Florida meet in April 2021 shouting, “I am who I say I am!” as she crossed the finish line.
But Richardson didn’t make it to Tokyo. A urine sample she provided during a post-race drug test following her Olympic Trials 100 victory tested positive for cannabis.
Richardson admitted using marijuana after learning her biological mother had died that week.
She came under further criticism when she finished last in her first race after the suspension, the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, running 11.14 well behind Thompson-Herah’s winning 10.54.
Even so she pronounced the race “great return to the sport.”
“I’m not upset with myself at all,” Richardson told NBC’s Lewis Johnson in a post-race interview. “This is one race. I’m not done. You know what I’m capable of. Count me out if you want to. I’m not done. I’m the sixth-fastest woman in this game ever, and can’t nobody ever take that from me. Congratulations to the winners, but they’re not done seeing me yet. Period.
“Talk all the sh– you want because I’m here to stay.”
But she failed to even make Team USA for the 2022 Worlds in Eugene. She finally met the Jamaicans on a global stage at last summer’s Worlds in Budapest, crushing the field with a 10.65, making her the fifth fastest woman ever, fulfilling a boast she made as she crossed the finish line at the U.S. Championships earlier that summer.
“I’m not back. I’m better.”
Three of the four women ahead of her on the all-time list have won a combined five Olympic 100 gold medals.
Returning to Eugene for the Olympic Trials in June, Richardson ran three of the season’s top eight times capped by her 10.71 in the final.
“A full circle moment,” Richardson said.
A moment just like the 2021 Trials, just like Budapest, all the steps and missteps that have led her to Paris and Stade de France, eight lanes leading her to what she believes is her destiny.
“I feel like all of those components have helped me grow,” she said “and will continue to help me grow into the young lady that I have been divined and by God been blessed to be.”
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