Before she takes off to the Paris Olympics later this month, sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson has landed her way on the digital cover of Vogue magazine.
After qualifying for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Richardson was suspended after a failed drug test and left off the roster. Now, she will compete in Paris after clocking the fastest time this year for the women’s 100 meters with 10.71 seconds at the Olympic trials at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, last month.
The fastest woman in the world spoke to Vogue‘s Maya Singer about the preparation to compete at a high level.
“You keep showing up,” Richardson said. “No matter what. Most people they only think of track every four years. The Olympics, that’s
all there is—those few seconds on TV. But for me, track is my life on a day-to-day basis. Everything I do—what I eat, what I drink, if I stay up too late—it’s all reflected on the track. Every choice. That’s what the world doesn’t see.”Although Richardson was expected to compete in the 200m, she failed to qualify when she unexpectedly finished in fourth place. But she also knows a job has to be done, and the expectation of her bringing the gold medal back home is still on the agenda. Her rise through her athletic journey stays on her mind.
“Every time I step onto the track, I think of all those moments when I was younger—all those feelings are still with me; I’m just that little girl grown up,” Richardson said. “It’s almost like a flashback journey, everything that brought me to that point. All the grind, all the sacrifice. And there’s a feeling of, this moment is special because all of that, the good, the bad, it’s brought me here. And I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.”
The world will be watching her when the 2024 Summer Olympics starts on Friday, July 26.
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