‘I’m not back. I’m better’: America’s glamour queen of the track who cannot be beaten in the 100 metres in Paris
American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson missed Tokyo due to a misdemeanour. She’s back and is set to light up the track not only with her speed, but also with extravagant persona and flair.
Sha’Carri Richardson is the mega-glamorous, big-haired, multi-tattooed, uber-colourful, flamboyant, quick-talking, quick-walking, quicker-running, larger-than-life American who’s set to prove herself the fastest woman in the world at the Paris Olympics after blowing the same opportunity by testing positive to marijuana before the Tokyo Games.
This stunning, expressive new face of American athletics has enough soaring physical beauty, ravenous talent and public interest in her homeland to feature on the cover of this month’s Vogue magazine in a Ralph Lauren body shirt and skirt. Olympic royalty Carl Lewis says she cannot be beaten in the 100m.
The 24-year-old from Dallas will become bigger than Texas, and one of the faces of the Games, if she lives up to the hype and Winx-like favouritism to win the marquee sprint and finish 28 years of Jamaican dominance.
Oh, what a night it will be on august. Well, what an early morning it will be at 5.20am on August 4 in Australia. Richardson is what we want our Olympic sprint champions to be. We seek more than a swift race, right? We want charisma. We want rock stars. We want razzle. We want dazzle. We want to be awestruck. Thunderstruck. We want Usain’s Bolt’s ‘To Da World’ celebration. Richardson has enough sass, swagger and newly-discovered self-love to make her global audience swoon while capturing America’s first women’s 100m title since the gallivanting Gayle Severs in 1996.
It’s showtime, baby. “You keep showing up,” Richardson told Vogue. “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.”
Her quote on the cover of Vogue is, “I’m not back. I’m better.” Asked to explain, she replies: “I don’t just mean I’m a better runner. It’s beyond that. I’m better at being Sha’Carri. I’m better at being myself. I’m falling in love with the process and falling in love with myself. I’m giving myself that love first and everything else flows from there. I’m eager, growing and developing. I have been given a blessing and I have to show it to the world.”
Richardson won last year’s world title in a blistering 10.65sec at Budapest. The fifth fastest dash of all time. The world record remains Florence Griffith Joyner’s 10.44sec at Indianapolis in 1988. Two Australians will be in the 100m at Paris. Ella Connolly has a PB of 11.25sec. Bree Masters’ is 11.23sec.
Richardson is all in, all glamour, all the time. “Believe in yourself, no matter what,” she says. “Be strong in yourself. Every day you go out, no matter what you do – sports, music, education, whatever you’re doing – every single day, go to work like it’s your last. The way I run down the track is almost the same way I could strut down the runway. Fashion is the flow of the body. Fashion is the flow of expression. Fashion relates to the way that I move my body. Fashion and sports are one and the same. The expression of self and the expression of flow. Beauty and the beast comes together.”
It’s the beast within. You don’t win Olympic gold unless you’re a competitive animal. “Basically, this is my own catwalk,” Richardson says. “My lane is my catwalk. Look good, feel good, do good. They all relate to the mental aspect, the emotional aspect and ultimately, the physical aspect. I just have to trust myself and stay grounded, no matter what. I have been given another opportunity and this time … I am going to take it.”
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