Sha’Carri Richardson Will Compete Against Three Jamaican Medalists

The expectation that American Olympic Sha’Carri Richardson would be the gold medal winner in the recent Tokyo Olympics was thwarted by a failed drug test just before the announcement of the athletes who would be on that Olympic team. Suspended sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson had hopes that she would still make it to the Olympics after a failed drug test disqualified her, but the track star didn’t make the roster for the 4×100 women’s relay Tuesday.

After completing her one-month suspension, it was announced that Richardson was set to compete in the 100 and 200-meter races at the Diamond League Prefontaine Classic. Now, the organizers of the meet have made an announcement that not only will Richardson be competing, but, they made good on the intent to include as many medalists as possible. This means that they have secured all three Olympic medalists in the women’s 100 meters to face the U.S. champion who missed Tokyo.

The 46th Prefontaine Classic will be held next weekend on August 20-21 at Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus. Along with Richardson, all three medalists from the recent Olympics, Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, and Shericka Jackson will join in the women’s 100-meter sprint.

Fans of Sha’Carri Richardson were outraged when news broke that the 21-year-old track star would face a 30-day Olympic team suspension after testing positive for marijuana. The U.S Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) formally announced her suspension in July, noting that Richardson accepted a one-month suspension that started on June 28.

In a statement released back in July, the USATF finalized its decision saying:

“While USATF fully agrees that the merit of the World Anti-Doping Agency rules related to THC should be reevaluated, it would be detrimental to the integrity of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Track & Field if USATF amended its policies following competition, only weeks before the Olympic Games,” USATF said.

“All USATF athletes are equally aware of and must adhere to the current anti-doping code, and our credibility as the National Governing Body would be lost if rules were only enforced under certain circumstances.”