Accountability Part of Post-Olympics Healing Process for Sha’Carri Richardson

After being suspended from the Olympic team prior to the Tokyo Summer Games, Sha’Carri Richardson realizes the consequences of her actions.

Richardson tested positive for THC after taking a drug test in the U.S. Olympic track and field trials in Eugene, Oregon last June. According to People, she moved forward from that by owning her actions. 

“When I had the entire situation of being banned from the Tokyo Games, the people who I talked to first were the people who I felt like were with me the most on the journey. I apologized to them first. I felt like they had to hold my shame as well, in a way — or my guilt, in a way,” said Richardson, adding, “That whole situation was a very big growing and touching experience for me and my community.”

The 21-year-old recently questioned why she was suspended from the Olympics while 15-year-old Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva was allowed to compete in the 2022 Winter Games after testing positive for Trimetazidine, a heart medication that’s a banned substance by the World Anti-Doping Agency. 

“Can we get a solid answer on the difference between her situation and mine? My mother died and I can’t run and was also favored to place top 3. The only difference I see is I’m a Black young lady,” Richardson tweeted on Feb. 14.

Valieva was initially suspended but the Court of Arbitration for Sport changed that decision and allowed her to compete.