Sha’Carri Richardson not picked for 4×100 relay team, will miss Tokyo Olympics
Sha’Carri Richardson will miss the Tokyo Olympics after USA Track Field announced its full roster of athletes Tuesday, revealing that she has not been selected as a member of the 4×100 relay team.
The organization said in a statement that while it has sympathy for Richardson, who is serving a one-month suspension after testing positive for marijuana at the U.S. Olympic trials last month, it also has a responsibility to “maintain fairness for all of the athletes.”
“While USATF fully agrees that the merit of the World Anti-Doping Agency rules related to THC should be reevaluated, it would be detrimental to the integrity of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Track Field if USATF amended its policies following competition, only weeks before the Olympic Games,” the organization said in the statement.
“All USATF athletes are equally aware of and must adhere to the current anti-doping code, and our credibility as the National Governing Body would be lost if rules were only enforced under certain circumstances.”
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency announced Friday that Richardson, 21, had been suspended for marijuana, which is a banned substance under WADA’s anti-doping code. She said on NBC’s “Today” show that she used the drug after learning from a reporter that her biological mother had died, as a means of coping with the pain.
The suspension ensured that Richardson would not be able to run her primary event, the 100-meter dash, at the Tokyo Olympics. But the timing of the ban left open the possibility that she could still compete for a medal in the 4×100 relay, which will take place after her suspension is over.
Tuesday’s announcement effectively shut that door.
When asked how Richardson was handling the news, her agent, Renaldo Nehemiah, told The Associated Press: “We haven’t spoken about it at all. It was actually not a topic we focused on.”
who is serving a suspension for whereabouts violations – and distance runner Shelby Houlihan, who has been suspended after testing positive for an anabolic steroid that she believes came from a burrito.
Richardson, a Dallas native who won a national title at LSU, had been favored to win at least one medal in Tokyo this summer. Her suspension for marijuana use came as a shock in the world of track and field, a little less than three weeks before the opening ceremony in Tokyo. And it quickly became a major story outside of the sport, too.
even President Joe Biden was asked if he thought Richardson’s punishment was fair.
Richardson, for her part, admitted to ingesting marijuana before the Olympic trials.
“I want to take responsibility for my actions,” she said in the NBC interview. “I know what I did. I know what I’m supposed to do. I know what I’m allowed not to do, and I still made that decision.”
Richardson will now aim to make her Olympic debut at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris. She also figures to be a threat to win her first world title at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon next year.
“I’m sorry, I can’t be y’all Olympic Champ this year,” she wrote on Twitter on Sunday, “but I promise I’ll be your World Champ next year.”
Contributing: The Associated Press
Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on Twitter @Tom_Schad.