Yes, yes, I know. It has been way too long since an article has been posted to this amazing website. In my defense, the podcast has been cooking and dropping consistently. We also have a ton of merch for your purchasing pleasure (shameless plug). Now that we got that out of the way, let’s talk about our good sister Sha’Carri Richardson.
Ms. Richardson was poised to compete for Olympic glory in Tokyo this summer, but that was derailed when she failed a drug test and was suspended. That suspension caused her to miss her main race, in addition to her being left off of the women’s relay team. She admitted to smoking weed after the loss of her mom (which she found out about from a reporter). Black twitter and IG battled over whether her suspension was racial, and even cited the fact that some white athletes sell CBD products and still compete in the Olympics. Regardless of how you feel or felt about the circumstances, you probably felt hyped to hear about her return in a race against the Jamaicans (who dominated the games) this weekend.
The lead up to the race was great. IG promo, hot takes and sound bites. It made you feel like she was invincible. There was also a good amount of track athletes who said she was probably the fourth best in her class and that she would get smoked (pun intended) in a race against the Jamaican women. I tried to brush it off as pro-dancehall propaganda, but… those people were right. Sha’Carri came in last (ninth) and the Jamaican women swept the top three spots. To make it worse, sound bites started to circulate that made it seem like she was still trash talking in defeat. Take this one for example:
It seems like the narrative being spun is that she is all talk and no action. That she is foul-mouthed and low on sportsmanship. There is another less circulated interview that took place after she had the opportunity to relax after the race:
I think the takeaways here are: 1) Sha’Carri got smoked by better prepared competitors 2) she is working to be the best version of herself 3) she does have grace and sportsmanship 4) she is humble and confident 5) she will be back.
Let the memes and jokes fly, but let’s also see where she goes next.
Drop a comment below and let us know your thoughts.
culture, featured, olympics, shacarri, trackandfield
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