"I never play small"-Sha'Carri Richardson has left negative ‘energies and opinions’ behind, ready to win big at Paris Olympics 2024

Sha'Carri Richardson was the talk of the town at the start of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics due to her suspension after the anti-doping violation. Four years on, the world champion claims she has left the negative ‘energies and opinions’ behind and is ready to play big at the Paris Olympics 2024.

Richardson won the 100m trials at the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials, but a positive doping test stripped her of a chance to compete in her maiden Olympic Games. She was suspended for a month, and for nearly two years following that, she always had redemption in her mind before winning the 100m title at the 2023 World Championships.

After everything she had been through, Richardson announced that she ‘wasn't back, she was better’. She became the sixth fastest sprinter of all time, and in 2024, she is the fastest this year so far. The 24-year-old heads into the Paris Olympics as the overwhelming favorite, and Richardson knows she is the fastest and the only thing she needs to do is to execute inside the Stade de France.

Despite winning a World Championship last year, Sha'Carri Richardson has occasionally been reminded of the ghosts from 2021, sometimes by reporters in press conferences and sometimes by online trolls. However, in a recent interview with "Elle", the 24-year-old claimed she had learned to ignore negative ‘energies and opinions’.

“If they can’t find one thing to talk about, they’ll find another,” she said.

Compared to her look at the 2021 trials, which she described back then as ''loud and encouraging and, honestly, dangerous", Richardson’s appearance looked minimal at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials.

“I wanted to focus on competing at my best, and my look reflected that,” she said. “It was clean, fresh, and fast.”

However, her confidence was high. Making her maiden Games appearance at the Paris Olympics 2024, Sha'Carri Richardson is ready for her redemption.

“That’s just authentically who I am. I never play small, this is how I show up in life," Richardson added.

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Will Sha'Carri Richardson return with a gold medal from the Paris Olympics 2024?

2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Sha'Carri Richardson in action (Photo-Getty)

Sha'Carri Richardson started off her 2024 outdoor season over 200m and lost twice before shifting to the 100m. She won the Prefontaine Classic in 10.83s, the fourth fastest time of the year, and if that wasn't an indication of her blistering form, she made it clear at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials.

Richardson clocked times of 10.88 and 10.86 during the heats and semifinal, and both of them came with slow starts, with the semifinal one coming with untied shoelaces. During the finals, she ran a world-leading 10.71s, and it was again after a relatively slow start.

The next fastest time of the season is 10.77, and some of her top competitors at the Paris Olympics 2024 will be Shericka Jackson, Tia Clayton, and Julien Alfred. Of the three, only Alfred has been in form and even if Sha'Carri Richardson doesn't get a fast start, her top speed should be enough to get the better of the Saint-Lucian sprinter. If she gets a good start, the American will have her eyes on the world record of 10.49s.