Friday 20th August 2021
Back to the Olympic lock
The cannabis sprinter’s comeback
For Sha’Carri Richardson, the Olympic Games are over before the start. After the US trials, their cannabis use will be proven. She is banned from the Olympics. But now the US sprint opening is back. “I’m not going to be nice,” she says.
Of course Sha’Carri Richardson paid her stylist a visit again, the US sprint star likes to enter the stage with brightly colored hair. For the duel with Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah and Tokyo runner-up Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, she now chose: platinum blonde and blue highlights. Your return should be a great performance.
“I will not be nice,” announced Richardson on Instagram before the sprint showdown in the Diamond League in Eugene. The 21-year-old is eager to show the world who the real number one is over the 100 m. Richardson, who ran 10.72 seconds in the run-up to Tokyo, missed the Olympics as a co-favorite – because she smoked marijuana during the US trials.
Invitation from Kanye West
And so through Thompson-Herah (10.61), Fraser-Pryce (10.74) and Shericka Jackson (10.76) all medals went to Jamaica, for Richardson a childhood dream fell through (“Everyone wants to be an Olympic champion”). She had learned during the trials that her birth mother had died and resorted to drugs to numb her emotions. The Olympic eliminations also took place in Eugene, and marijuana use is legal in Oregon. But of course a top athlete is also subject to anti-doping rules, so she was banned for a month.
But Richardson’s popularity didn’t hurt the joint affair and the end of the Olympics – on the contrary. Sports stars like Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes or the former NBA professional Dwyane Wade showed solidarity with the sprinter, even US President Joe Biden expressed his support. And rap mogul Kanye West gave Richardson a role in a music video for a single from his new album “DONDA”. More is hardly possible for a track and field athlete.
But Richardson has long since acted beyond her sport and could even become an icon in the fight against racism in the USA – she is very active in the Black Lives Matter movement. “To be black in America is a curse for me – but it is also a blessing,” she said at last: “It is important for me to express myself because I am a proud black woman.” This inspires them to “be great in life.” After her marijuana ban, Richardson now wants to show how great she can sprint in a duel with the Olympic champion.
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