‘Always fight, no matter what’: Sha’Carri Richardson

USA’s Sha’Carri Richardson (Lane No. 9) approaches the finish line to win the women’s 100m final at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest on Monday; (right) Richardson is ecstatic after the win. Pics/AFP

American Sha'Carri Richardson crushed Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce's hopes of a sixth women's world 100m title when she stormed to victory here on Monday.

Richardson sprinted to a championship record of 10.65sec despite being in Lane Nine. Shericka Jackson and veteran Jamaican teammate Fraser-Pryce took silver and bronze in 10.72sec and 10.77sec respectively. At the post-race press conference Richardson, 23, said it was as much ‘the haters' as her close circle that had driven her to success. The haters, in her view, being those who waded in after she had to miss the Tokyo Olympics when her US trials results were annulled following a positive test for marijuana.

"I always say never give up. Never allow the media, never allow outsiders, never allow anything, but yourself to define who you are. Always fight, no matter what, fight," said Richardson, whose initial explanation about the marijuana had earned praise from US President Joe Biden. She claimed she had smoked it after learning of her mother Shayaria's death.

Unfair treatment in 2022?

Last year, Richardson has complained of being treated differently to teenage Russian ice skater Kamila Valieva, who competed at the Beijing Winter Olympics despite testing positive for a banned substance, because she's black.

Richardon has earned her many detractors, but US track legend Michael Johnson is an admirer. "She's very authentic, she doesn't make excuses. She has a personality that's unmatched. The sport needs this now, to draw in people who are not just track fans," said Johnson, a former 200m and 400m world champion, who is currently working as an analyst for the BBC.

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Richardson had a tough upbringing, brought up by her grandmother Betty Harp and an aunt. "Not having that bond of my biological mother while getting older, that's what really got me. She was supposed to be my world and now that she wasn't there. I would asked myself ‘Why am I here?'. It took me to a dark place. When I was a junior in high school, I tried to commit suicide," Richardson said in a video posting earlier this year.

Break-up with girlfriend

Richardson had a bitter break up with her Jamaican girlfriend 100m hurdler Janeek Brown. They were embroiled in bitter claims of physical and verbal abuse. Brown had said that Richardson's going public about the relationship was "malicious and calculated."

Besides Johnson though, another legend, Justin Gatlin, also has no doubt about Richardson's potential. "She can be the greatest female sprinter," said the 2004 Olympic 100m champion and two-time world gold medallist, who was Richardson's former training partner.

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