Last night, a bombshell fell about rising track star, Sha’Carri Richardson. It was revealed that she failed a drug test and will not be allowed to participate in the 100m at the Tokyo Olympics.
“I want to take responsibility for my actions,” Richardson said on TODAY on Friday. “I know what I did. I know what I’m supposed to do and am allowed not to do, and I still made that decision. I’m not making an excuse. I’m not looking for any empathy in my case.”
On Thursday night, a report first surfaced from the Jamaica Gleaner, a Jamaican-based publication, that Richardson had tested positive for a banned substance. While everyone waited for confirmation, the Enquirer’s Tyler Dragon reported that she tested positive for Marijuana.
As a result, the talented sprinter was hit with a one month suspension and is disqualified from running the 100m at the Games later this month. Sha’Carri accepted the one-month ban which was, according to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, retroactively dated back to June 28th.
“I am human,” tweeted Sha’Carri last night.
While she’s out of the 100m, USA Track & Field hasn’t said whether she would be eligible to run the 4x100m.
Richardson noted that learning of her biological mother’s death was one of the reasons she ingested the drug, which is legal in Oregon where the Trials took place. But she wasn’t making any excuses.
Now she can only wait to see whether Team USA will call her for the relay.
“Right now, I’m just putting all of time and energy into dealing with what I need to do with myself,” said Richardson. “If I’m allowed to receive that blessing, then I’m grateful for it. But if not, right now, I’m really just focused on myself.
Marijuana is banned in competition but not out of competition.
According to NBC Sports, “For a positive test at a competition, if an athlete establishes that it was ingested out of competition and unrelated to sport performance, the ban is three months. In that case, the ban can be reduced further to one month if the athlete completes a substance of abuse treatment program, according to a 2021 WADA update on substances of abuse that are ‘frequently abused in society outside the context of sport.’”
Hopefully we’ll all get to see Sha’Carri run in the 4x100m in the Olympics.
