Advertisement

sportsOther Sports

Could Paris Olympics give Dallas’ Sha’Carri Richardson a chance to tell her true story?

Richardson enters the Olympics as the favorite to win the first U.S. gold in the women’s 100 meters since 1996.

Only Simone Biles’ attempt to retake her rightful throne ranks as a bigger story for these Olympics than Sha’Carri Richardson’s, but, like anyone who might beat the world’s fastest woman at anything, it’s not by much. The difference between what we know of these famous Texans is another story. Biles is an open book by comparison. In the race against her inquisitors, Sha’Carri laps the field.

Certainly no world-shaking Olympian from Dallas has ever been a greater mystery in her own hometown.

“When she’s ready,” texted her aunt, Shay Richardson, politely declining an interview, “she will narrate her own story in her own way and words.”

Sports Roundup

Get the latest D-FW sports news, analysis, scores and more.

Or with:

The glimpses she’s allowed into what’s shaped her 24-year-old life have been few since she tested positive for marijuana at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials. In an interview with NBC shortly afterward, she explained that she’d been overwhelmed at learning from a reporter about the death of her biological mother. To her credit, she made no excuses. Took accountability and resolved to grow from the experience. By all accounts, she’s done exactly that.

On social media, billboards and TV, Sha’Carri’s as ubiquitous as any U.S. athlete not named Biles. Dallas ISD named its track stadium after her. Netflix devoted part of a documentary to her. Vogue put her on its online cover.

Advertisement

But, despite tantalizing details of her nails and hair and flying feet, we still don’t know any more about her backstory three years after that NBC interview. The way she tells it, we may not know as much as we thought.

On Aug. 2 last year, three weeks before blazing a record 10.65 in the 100 meters at the World Athletics Championships, Sha’Carri retweeted a post of the NBC interview with a cryptic message about being “forced” to do it.

“One day,” she wrote, “I’ll tell my TRUE story.”

Advertisement

Here’s what we know: From the age of 9, when she found a stash of Aunt Shay’s track medals in her grandmother’s house, she wanted her own. A hip injury ruined her freshman year at Carter. Yet she left high school as a five-time state champion — three times in the 100; twice in the 200 – with two 4X100 titles and a couple of team championships as well. Her freshman year at LSU, she ran a 10.75 in the finals of the NCAA Championships, breaking a 30-year-old record. In 2019, she turned pro and moved to Florida to train under Dennis Mitchell.

Since the suspension in 2021, which led to a period where she bottomed out as a competitor, she’s roared back to prominence. At last year’s Worlds, the ferocity with which she covered the final 40 meters belied her diminutive stature. Her performance at the Olympic Trials last month was something out of Hollywood.

Wobbling out of the blocks in her first heat, her right shoe untied, she managed to win in 10.88. In the finals, she started slow again, only to run a winning time of 10.71, stamping her as the favorite to win the first U.S. gold in the women’s 100 meters since 1996.

Once she’d punched her ticket to Paris, Sha’Carri rushed to, then embraced, her grandmother, Betty Harp. In the Vogue interview, granted only with the stipulation that there would be no questions about the failed drug test or her biological mother, Sha’Carri left no question about Harp’s impact.

“Everything I am, it’s because of that strong, wise Black woman,” she said. “Everything. I mean, I’ve been blessed, because I’ve had other people in my life who have helped me along. But the foundation, that’s her.”

Even the Vogue story, which captured Sha’Carri at her bubbly best, noted a whiff of guarded suspicion on her part at first. Her apparent mistrust of the media may stem from the reaction to her suspension, much of it unfavorable. In the Netflix series SPRINT, she complained “every move I make, there’s a lot of noise about it.” Paul Martin, executive producer of the series, conceded in a Slate interview that Sha’Carri wasn’t as “enthusiastic” about the project as some of the other stars.

“She is an incredibly complicated individual to carry,” Martin told Slate. “And still, though we’ve made this series about her, I wouldn’t claim to have any grasp on who she really is and what drives her.”

Advertisement

Outside of post-race interactions, Sha’Carri’s interviews have often come with ties to product placement. Nike is chief of her many sponsors. A recent two-question interview with the Associated Press required a nod to Powerade in print.

“I would say in the past few years, I’ve grown to have a better understanding of myself,” she told the AP. “I have a deeper respect and appreciation for the role I have in the sport, as well as my responsibility to the people who believe and support me.”

The circle is growing with each win. NBC’s Sanya Richards-Ross, the former Texas sprinter and gold medalist in three Olympics, cited Sha’Carri’s growth and maturity in becoming “the face of the sprints.”

Advertisement

“The entire world was involved and got caught up in the magic of who Sha’Carri is,” Richards-Ross told the AP.

But, other than the fact that she’s the world’s fastest woman, who is she, exactly? Maybe if the 5-1 sprinter stands tallest on a Paris podium, we’ll find out at last. Until then, she’ll let her feet do the talking.

Twitter/X: @KSherringtonDMN

Related Stories
View More
Advertisement

For more sports coverage from The Dallas Morning News, click here.

To view subscription options for The News and SportsDay, click here.