Will Sha'carri Richardson Bring Home Olympic Gold?
Sha'Carri Richardson at the 2023 World Athletics Championships. Photo credit: Erik van Leeuwen via Wikimedia Commons
The exclusion of Sha’Carri Richardson from the Tokyo Olympics three years ago is one of the lowest moments in the history of cannabis and sports. But the 24-year-old athlete is ready to open a new Olympic chapter. Richardson already broke a record while securing her spot for the Paris games. The U.S. runner crossed the 100m finish line in 10.71 seconds on the June 22, 2024 trials in Eugene, Oregon.
World 100m champion Sha’Carri Richardson will be chasing Olympic gold at the Olympics 2024 in Paris, France. The American sprinting superstar secured her place at the games last month during the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - track & field. With a world lead time of 10.71, she was the fastest woman in all three rounds in Eugene.
It would be the first time Richardson heads to the Olympics. The 24-year-old sprinter claimed her first world title in Budapest last year. She could have earned an Olympic medal in Tokyo three years back, but she was disqualified after returning a positive test on marijuana.
As per her qualification for the Olympics 2024, Richardson said she feels honored. “I feel everything, every chapter that I’ve been through in my life has designed me for this moment,” she told NBC.
“To stand here with these amazing women who I have the pleasure of sharing this moment with, who I train with… it’s a full-circle moment, I’m appreciative,” she said. “I cannot wait to go to Paris and represent.”
Richardson Was Banned from the 2021 Summer Olympics Over Cannabis
Sha’Carri Richardson was all over the news back in 2021 when her participation at the Tokyo summer Olympics was called off after testing positive on marijuana. The athlete reportedly used cannabis after learning of the death of her biological mother.
However, Richardson’s suspension from the Olympic Games for testing positive for THC has generated intense debate. Is it fair to exclude athletes because of marijuana use alone? There were pleas to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to relax the rules around cannabis.
Although marijuana is legal to use in Oregon, and in more than half of the U.S., THC is still on the WADA list of prohibited substances. Almost all countries comply with the anti-doping code, except Russia, North Korea, and Gabon.
In Richardson’s case, she got support for reevaluation of the suspension both from the director of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), and president Joe Biden himself. The USADA went further and proposed revision of the rule, but WADA refused that proposal.
What added salt to the wound was a subsequent decision of the sports authorities to allow a Russian skater to compete in the Winter games in Beijing, despite the skater testing positive for a banned doping substance. The case stirred doubts about double standards at the Olympics.
In the meantime, THC remains on the WADA list of prohibited substances. Marijuana is prohibited in competition only, and only when the urinary concentration exceeds a threshold of 150 ng/ML. This threshold was increased in 2013 from 15 ng/mL, as per the official website of WADA.
WADA’s own experts have stated that THC or marijuana is not a performance enhancing drug. More than that, many current and retired athletes praise the effectiveness of THC to facilitate pain relief, which is much better for the body and less addictive than opioids.
Whatever happened happened. Nobody can go back and change the past. What everyone looks forward to is a better outcome in what comes next. As Sha’Carri Richardson is heading to the Olympics 2024 in Paris, the hopes are high that she will bring home a medal, and prove everyone that she deserved that medal even earlier.
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- NBA Removes Drug Testing for THC
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Stephen Andrews
