"I would love to see women receive a similar level of pay" - Sha'Carri Richardson calls out pay disparity between male and female athletes

Sha'Carri Richardson has advocated for closing the gender pay gap in the sports industry, saying that women should be paid more for the innumerable sacrifices they make in order to pursue a career in athletics. Furthermore, according to her, the pay gap is not exclusive to track and field.

Sha'Carri Richardson is currently preparing for her debut Olympic appearance at the 2024 Paris Games. The 24-year-old is in contention in the 100-m and 200-m events. Earlier, she missed the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the wake of a drug ban suspension.

Ahead of the 2024 Olympic Trials, the 100-m reigning world champion addressed the gender pay gap issue in athletics. In an interview, Sha'Carri Richardson expressed her wish to see the landscape of track change in favor of women, since they sacrifice a lot to build a professional career in a men-dominated field. She said:

"I’d also love to see women receive a similar level of pay to compensate for the same or even larger sacrifice that we put into being professional athletes.” Richardson said. (via She Knows)

Allyson Felix, the former track and field athlete with nine Olympic golds in her repertoire, is another high-profile person who has previously advocated for ending pay discrimination. She talked about ending her term with Nike since the billion-dollar brand didn't support maternity protections.

After her contract ended in 2017, Felix asked Nike for a new deal while she was pregnant. Nike offered her a deal with a 70% pay cut, which seemed 'beyond disrespectful and tone-deaf' to the Olympian. (via Business Insider)

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Sha'Carri Richardson: "I feel most confident on the track when I’m the most nervous"

Sha'Carri Richardson rose to fame last year when she blazed through the highly contentious 100-m field at the 2023 World Championships to claim victory. Since then, she has been one of the top seeds of the races that followed.

Richardson will be at the Olympics for the first time and she revealed being nervous before the event. However, she also talked about being the most confident when the nervousness peaks.

"Honestly, I feel most confident on the track when I’m the most nervous. That may be backward, but I feel confident in relying on the training I’ve been doing and the way I’ve prepared myself day-by-day," she said. (via She Knows)

The 24-year-old will vie to qualify in both the 100m and 200m, heading to Paris.