?Stop Giving Us Rules?- Sha?Carri Richardson Fires at US Anti-Doping Agency for Double Standards

Professional track and field athletes have to endure tough training and long hours on the track to qualify for international competitions. Beating a record is no child?s play, but every runner wants to be the fastest. Controversies like the suspension of Sha?Carri Richardson right before the Olympics make headlines pretty often.?

The risk of doping in a sport saturated with top athletes is high. Steroid use and doping controversies always put a damper on the spectator?s excitement after seeing their favorites take home the gold. But are all doping bans ?fair? to the athletes?

Sha?Carri Richardson speaks out on the unfairness

The sprinter?Sha?Carri Richardson?took to Twitter to voice her opinion on the US Anti-Doping Agency?s rules and regulations and claimed there is a double standard. She wrote,??Once again @usantidoping give us all these rules but can not follow themselves.Stop giving us rules that y?all can bend just to get more money. The ones behind the desk who probably has never been a high level athlete need to be held accountable at the same level as the athletes!?

The sprinter?tested positive for marijuana in July 2021. Just a month prior, she ran a 10.86 in the women’s 100-meter dash at the US Olympics trials. Though marijuana is legal in the state of Oregon, it is classified as a “substance of abuse” by WADA. Therefore, it invalidated her run. She explained she used it as a coping mechanism after her mother died.

READ MORE:?Sha?Carri Richardson Roars at US Sports Authorities Ahead of Track Season Debut

Since then, Richardson has spoken up about the unfairness of the World Anti-Doping Agency and the International Olympic Committee frequently. She even made headlines for criticizing the IOC’s decision to let Russian skater Kamila Valieva take part in the Beijing Olympics after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

The long list of banned substances

WADA?s list of?prohibited substances and methods contains hundreds of items which are updated annually. Subsequently, WADA has divided the list into substances and methods that are prohibited at all times, or prohibited only in competition.?

Even if a substance is not explicitly mentioned on the list, it can be grounds for suspension. Here, it depends on whether any governmental regulatory health authority currently approves it for human therapeutic use. Or if it has a similar chemical structure or biological effect(s) as banned drugs.

Drug testing in track has often led to bans that the public does not entirely agree with. Fans have criticized Sha?Carri Richardson?s ban for using marijuana. One reason is that the idea of THC being performance-enhancing for her particular discipline is spurious at best.?

Similarly, in the 2010-11 season,?Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce?suffered a six-month suspension for testing positive for Oxycodone that she said she took for toothache. But Oxycodone, too, can not be classified as a performance-enhancing drug or a masking agent.

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