Why Was Sha’Carri Richardson Suspended From the Tokyo Olympics?

Sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson is representing Team USA at the Paris Summer Olympics.

Her appearance at the Olympics finishes off a three-year ordeal that began before the Tokyo Games, when Richardson tested positive for cannabis—a banned substance under World Anti-Doping Agency Rules—after bursting into the American sporting consciousness with an outstanding performance at the Olympic trials in 2021.

Here’s a detailed look at why Sha’Carri Richardson was suspended from the Tokyo Olympics and the impact that setback had on the athlete.

Why was Sha'Carri Richardson suspended?

In June 2021, Richardson qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, winning the 100-m sprint at the U.S. Olympic Trials with a time of 10.86 seconds. But days later, it was revealed that she had tested positive for cannabis use.

Richardson admitted to the use and on July 2, 2021, accepted a one-month suspension from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. Her suspension was lifted two days before the women’s 100-m event was scheduled at the Tokyo Olympics, however her Olympic qualifying results had been annulled, leaving her unable to participate in the race.

Read More: Sha’Carri Richardson’s Suspension for Marijuana Defies Common Sense

How did people react to Sha'Carri Richardson's suspension?

The suspension sparked outcry in the United States, where legalization of marijuana for both medical and recreational use has become widespread. Politicians on both sides of the divide, like Florida Republican Representative Matt Gaetz and New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, advocated for Richardson’s inclusion in the Olympics. But the protests were to no avail. (The World Anti-Doping Agency in 2022 reexamined cannabis' status as a banned substance, and upheld the policy, citing that the substance still posed a health risk to athletes and violated “the spirit of sport.”)

President Biden weighed in on the discussion days after the ban was implemented. “The rules are the rules and everybody knows what the rules were going in,” he said. “Whether they should remain the rules is a different issue, but the rules are the rules.”

What has Sha'Carri Richardson said about her suspension?

The athlete said she smoked marijuana to cope with hearing about the death of her biological mother. Richardson said she found out the news about her mother's death from a reporter in an interview before the trials.

"I want to take responsibility for my actions," she told the TODAY show on July 2, 2021. "I know what I did, I know what I'm supposed to do... and I still made that decision."

In a follow-up interview with the same platform, she said of her setback: "It was a moment of bitterness, but at the same time it was sweet because it just gives me more time, it gives me more to show the world that I'm here to stay. And it just guarantees that I'm going to be here just a little bit longer in the game, but definitely watching it made me want to push forward and just grow from that."

Richardson’s current mantra, as emphasized in her Instagram profile bio, is: “I’m not back. I’m better.”

In an interview with Vogue, published July 2024, Richardson said she is taking each race as it comes.

“It’s like chess,” Richardson said. “Every move you make is leading to checkmate. So the Olympics, okay, that’s checkmate, that’s the moment an athlete dreams about. But every race I have leading up to that matters too—that’s my opportunity to grow, so by the time I’m on the track in Paris, I know I’ve done my trial and error.”

She added that focusing on the present helps release some of the pressure of a high-stakes performance like at the Olympics. “Because if all I’m doing is looking ahead, then I can’t be where I need to be. Which is here, now.”