Sha?Carri Richardson Reveals How Grandmother?s Tough Lesson Pushed Her Towards Excellence From Young Age

American track and field star Sha’Carri Richardson is one of America’s best sprinters ever. She holds the world record for the junior 100meter and 200-meter sprint.

One of the greatest and most promising young stars in the US today, Sha’Carri already has a decorated record. Sadly, she couldn’t compete at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics after failing a drug test.

Despite that, Richardson is famous across the world. After all, when you win the women’s 100-meter dash at the US Olympic trials and confidently announce to the world that you’re ‘that girl’, the world would find it hard to forget.

Sha’Carri recounts how it was actually her aunt and her grandmother who made her the athlete she is today.

Sha’Carri Richardson shares how her grandma motivated her to win

Richardson was born and raised in South Dallas. “That’s where I got my confidence from,” 21-year old Sha’Carri Richardson stated in an interview with Vogue. Moreover, she credits her family and community for not making her feel like she ever lacked anything in life.

Richardson described how the people around her showed her “that there’s more than this (place)”. Not only did her community make her realize that there lay a world beyond Dallas, but they also convinced her it was hers for the taking.

Then, Sha’Carri shared how her grandmother and her aunt are behind her joining the track at the age of nine. She recalled how her grandmother made “a big plaque full of medals” for her mother (Richardson calls her aunt her mother).

Thus, nine-year-old Richardson took an interest in that and wanted one for herself, too. However, when she asked her grandmother for her own plaque for medals, her grandmother’s response set her off on her path of athletic excellence.

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“You got to do something to get some medals!” Sha’Carri Richardson’s grandmother told her. This was a formative lesson for the young toddler. Thus, going forward from that moment, Sha’Carri believed “if you want to do something, if you want to be great, you got to put your all into it”.

Sha’Carri’ spoke out against Kamila Valieva competing at the Beijing Winter Olympics

Richardson was miffed when the Court of Arbitration for Sport allowed Russia’s 15-year-old Kamila Valieva to compete at the Winter Olympics 2022. Valieva had tested positive for a banned substance ahead of the Olympics but still competed.

“Losing my mother wasn?t enough for me to run,” she had written on Instagram, upset about being banned from the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics for failing her drug test. She had admitted to coping with the death of her biological mother by consuming cannabis.

Thus, despite excelling at the US Olympic track trials, she failed her drug screening. Consequently, she couldn’t compete at the Olympics in 2021. Then, speaking about Kamila, she wondered “why they let her (compete).”

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