Accountability Part of Post-Olympics Healing Process for Sha’Carri Richardson
“That whole situation was a very big growing and touching experience for me and my community." -Sha'Carri Richardson
(Patrick Smith via Getty Images)
Chicago — 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.