American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson is the talk of the town Sunday morning after dominating the 100-meter dash at the Tokyo Olympic trials.
She has earned a place on Team USA and will be heading to Tokyo.
Richardson won the 100 meters with a time of 10.86 seconds — coming in 0.13 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Javianne Oliver. At just 21 years old, she is second only in the world to Jamaican star Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, and is being lauded as the “female Usain Bolt.”
After celebrating her win, Richardson sprinted into the stands at Hayward Field before finding the arms of her grandmother. She did not reveal to the press until after her phenomenal win, that her biological mother, who abandoned her as a child, had died this month.
“My family has kept me grounded,” Richardson told NBC. “This year has been crazy for me. Going from just last week, losing my biological mother, and I’m still here.”
She continued, “I’m still here. Last week, finding out my biological mother passed away and still choosing to pursue my dreams, still coming out here, still here to make the family that I do still have on this earth proud. And the fact [is] nobody knows what I go through. Everybody has struggles and I understand that, but y’all see me on this track and y’all see the poker face I put on, but nobody but them and my coach know what I go through on a day-to-day basis,” she adds.
“I’m highly grateful for them. Without them, there would be no me. Without my grandmother, there would be no Sha’Carri Richardson. My family is my everything, my everything until the day I’m done.”
Richardson will next be competing in the 200 meters on Thursday. She currently has the fastest qualifying time in the field with 22.11 seconds.
Richardson attended LSU for just one year. During her time there, she set the collegiate record in the 100-meter dash, becoming the LSU record-holder. She then decided to turn pro.
