When Shirley Richardson (24-USA) walks from the auxiliary stadium to the main stadium before a big race, she makes sure to meet coach Dennis Mitchell (58).
Just to hear these words.
“You are the fastest woman in the world.”
USA Track & Field hopes Richardson will be recognized as the “fastest woman” at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The women’s 100-meter final will take place at 4:20 a.m. ET on Thursday.
It will be preceded by qualifying and group heats on the afternoon of Feb. 2 and semifinals at 2:50 a.m. on Feb. 4.
The United States has not won a gold medal in this event since Gail Devers won the women’s 100 meters at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
Marion Jones won in 10.75 at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, but her Sydney gold was stripped after Jones admitted in 2007 that she had “taken a banned substance at the time.”
Taking advantage of the U.S.’s struggles, Jamaica won three consecutive women’s 100 meters titles from Beijing 2008 to Tokyo 2020 in 2021.
In Tokyo, Jamaica swept the women’s 100 meters, winning gold (Elaine Thompson-Herrera), silver (Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce), and bronze (Shericka Jackson).
USA Track & Field sees Paris as the right time to redeem itself in the women’s sprints.
All eyes are on Richardson.
Richardson won the women’s 100-meter final at the Budapest 2023 World Championships in a meet record time of 10.65 seconds.
It had been six years since an American had won the women’s 100 meters at a world championships since Tori Bowie (London 2017), who passed away in 2023.
Richardson also owns the top women’s 100-meter time (10.71) from 2024.
Jackson, considered her fiercest rival, withdrew from the 100 meters to focus on a second straight 200 meters title.
Frazier-Price, regarded as the “greatest sprinter of all time,” has seen her personal best drop to 10.91 this season.
Everything points to Richardson’s chances of winning the title
Richardson is a sprinter to watch off the track as well.
Her performance and appearance reminds many of the late Florence Griffith Joyner (USA), the world record holder in the women’s 100 meters (10.49).
The UK’s Guardian called her “the most attractive track and field athlete since Usain Bolt”.
However, Richardson has been labeled with a ‘marijuana problem’.
In June 2021, Richardson won the women’s 100-meter final at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Tokyo with a time of 10.86 seconds, but she tested positive for marijuana in a drug test and was suspended for one month just before the Games began.
As a result, Richardson did not compete in Tokyo.
At the time, Richardson admitted that “I had just received the death of my ‘biological’ mother just before the trials for USA Track and Field in Tokyo,” and that “it was very difficult for me psychologically, and I made that choice (to use marijuana).”
His later story, told in an interview with NBC, was even more dramatic.
When he talked about his mother, he always used the word “biological” to describe her.
“I was abandoned by my ‘biological’ mother when I was very young,” Richardson says. “I was abandoned by my ‘biological’ mother when I was very young,” Richardson says, “and when the first reporter I saw before the Tokyo 2021 Olympic trials told me that my mother had died, I panicked. My relationship with my mother has always been a topic that haunted me. I was blinded by emotion, blinded by sadness, and hurt. I hid my hurt by smoking marijuana,” he confessed.
As an “openly bisexual woman,” Richardson suffered violence from her partner, which led to extreme measures.
While he doesn’t mention his partner’s violence in the interview, Richardson says that “the news that my biological mother had passed away during a period of depression was the trigger.”
He has had frequent clashes with the media since his rise to athletics stardom brought him increased media exposure.
“My advice to everybody is, ‘Don’t give up, don’t let the media get to you, don’t let other people’s judgment get to you,'” Richardson said after winning the World Championships in Budapest, adding, “I’ve fought against any adversity. The media has attacked me at every turn,” he said.
Richardson, a wild horse, becomes a sweet granddaughter and a hardworking player in front of her grandmother, who raised her, and Coach Mitchell.
“She’s a natural sprinter,” says Coach Mitchell. She just needs to be told how fast she is and how much faster she can go,” says Coach Mitchell.
For Richardson, that means encouragement and praise.
“I run for the people I love and the people who love me,” says Richardson, who wears his flamboyant persona and tough talk as armor.
After a series of twists and turns, Richardson’s run to her first Olympic Games is about to begin. 안전놀이터
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