At 23, the American, titled Monday in the 100m, does not have her tongue in her pocket and a character that leaves no one indifferent.
No quarter on the track, or off. The American Sha’Carri Richardson, crowned in the 100m at the Budapest Worlds on Monday after hitting rock bottom in 2022, leaves no one indifferent.
In 10”65, a canon time, record of the championships, Richardson put an end to the Jamaican domination and relegated the experienced Shericka Jackson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce to the other places of the podium. The young American (23), who won a first international title for her first major championships, thrives on confrontation and not just on the track, emphatically indicating that the “angryhad motivated her as much as her inner circle.
These “haters“, it was in particular those who had castigated him after a positive cannabis test in 2021 which had deprived him of the Tokyo Olympics, when she was on the rise. “You must never give up“, she said at a press conference, where she multiplied the peaks for the attention of journalists. “Don’t let the media or others define you. I want to say that we have to fight, always fightshe repeated.
Tested positive for marijuana in 2021
In 2021, she apologized and explained that she smoked marijuana after learning of the death of her biological mother. She had received support from personalities like footballer Megan Rapinoe, basketball player Chris Paul, or United States President Joe Biden. The Texan then complained of different treatment compared to the young Russian skater Kamila Valieva, present at the Beijing Winter Games in early 2022 despite a positive test for a prohibited substance (trimetazidine), because of the difference in their skin color. “Can we have a credible answer on the difference (between the two situations)?, she wrote in February 2022 on Twitter, which became X. The only thing I see is that I’m a young black woman.The International Olympic Committee (IOC) curtly replied that the two cases had “nothing to see“.
Shericka Jackson, Sha’Carri Richardson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce ANTONIN THUILLIER / AFP
A follower of shock phrases at the start of her career, the flamboyant sprinter with colorful braids and endless eyelashes and nails was transformed into total media silence in 2023, until her victory on Monday. An admirer of her deceased compatriot Florence Griffith-Joyner, controversial world record holder in the 100 and 200m (10”49 and 21”34 in 1988), Richardson trains in Florida with Justin Gatlin’s ex-mentor, Dennis Mitchell . Star of the American sprint, he has been tested positive several times in his career and, having become a coach, was trapped by a hidden camera where he claimed to be able to supply prohibited products.
It’s great for this sport because she has a unique, authentic personality.
Michael Johnson
Richardson’s attitude, very present on Instagram (2.5 million subscribers), earned him many detractors but also fervent supporters, such as American legend Michael Johnson, multiple Olympic champion in the 200 and 400m, and star consultant of the BBC. “It’s great for this sport because she has a unique, authentic personality.he said. This sport needs it, to attract people outside the circle of athletics fans.» «You can love it, as thousands of fans do, or reject it, as some no doubt do,“Said the former athlete who became sports director of the Chorzow meeting, Piotr Malachowski. “Sha’Carri leaves no one indifferent, it’s one or the other. She is known as a controversial figure. In today’s sports market, that has value.»
In high school, I attempted suicide.
Sha’Carri Richardson
She draws strength and weakness from a difficult childhood spent with her grandmother and an aunt, her mother having abandoned her. “My family kept me on the straight and narrow“, she explains in a video posted this year, regretting the absence of”bond with (his) maternal mother while growing up. It hurt me. She was supposed to be everything to me, but she was absent, I wondered: why am I here? It took me to dark thoughts. In high school, I attempted suicide.»
Sha’Carri Richardson DYLAN MARTINEZ / REUTERS
In 2022, Richardson broke up with his girlfriend, Jamaican sprinter Janeek Brown, going public with their relationship.toxic“, according to the admission of the two young women. The two exes then referred accusations of harassment “physical, moral and verbal“. At its worst at the time, the American had shown herself to be very affected on the track, completely missing her season and the selections for the World Championships in Eugene (Oregon, United States), a great celebration and triumph for the American athletics. Enough to push back his coronation for only one year.