(Budapest) No quarter on the track, or outside: the American Sha’Carri Richardson, crowned in the 100m at the Budapest Worlds on Monday after hitting rock bottom in 2022, leaves no one indifferent.
In 10 sec 65, a canon time, record of the championships, Richardson put an end to the Jamaican domination and relegated the experienced Shericka Jackson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce to the other places of the podium.
The young American (23), who won a first international title for her first major championships, thrives on confrontation and not just on the track, emphatically indicating that the “haters” have motivated her as much as her inner circle .
These “haters” include those who castigated him after a positive cannabis test in 2021 which deprived him of the Tokyo Olympics, while she was on the rise.
“You should never give up,” she said at a press conference, where she repeatedly peaked at reporters.
“Don’t let the media or others define you. I want to say that you have to fight, always fight,” she repeated.
In 2021, she had apologized and explained that she smoked marijuana after learning of the death of her biological mother. She had received support from personalities like footballer Megan Rapinoe, basketball player Chris Paul, or United States President Joe Biden.
The Texan then complained of different treatment compared to the young Russian skater Kamila Valieva, present at the Beijing Winter Games in early 2022 despite a positive test for a prohibited substance (trimetazidine), because of the difference in their skin color.
“Can we have a credible answer on the difference (between the two situations)?, she wrote in February 2022 on Twitter, which became X. The only one I see is that I am a young black woman. »
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) curtly replied that the two cases had “nothing to do”.
Follower of shock phrases at the start of her career, the flamboyant sprinter with colorful braids and endless eyelashes and nails was transformed into total media silence in 2023, until her victory on Monday.
An admirer of her late compatriot Florence Griffith-Joyner, a controversial 100m and 200m world record holder, Richardson trains in Florida with ex-mentor Justin Gatlin, Dennis Mitchell. Star of the American sprint, he has been tested positive several times in his career and, having become a coach, was trapped by a hidden camera where he claimed to be able to supply prohibited products.
Richardson’s attitude, very present on Instagram (2.5 million subscribers), earned him many detractors, but also fervent supporters, such as American legend Michael Johnson, multiple Olympic champion in the 200 and 400 m, and consultant BBC star.
“It’s great for this sport because she has a unique, authentic personality,” he said. This sport needs it, to attract people outside the circle of athletics fans. »
“You can love her, as thousands of fans do, or reject her, as some probably do,” said former athlete turned sports director at the Chorzow center, Piotr Malachowski. “Sha’Carri leaves no one indifferent, it’s one or the other. She is known as a controversial figure. In today’s sports market, that has value. »
She draws strength and weakness from a difficult childhood spent with her grandmother and an aunt, her mother having abandoned her. “My family kept me on the straight and narrow,” she explained in a video posted this year, lamenting the lack of “connection with (her) maternal mother growing up.”
“It hurt me. She was supposed to be everything to me, but she was away, I wondered, “why am I here?” »
“It took me to some dark thoughts. In high school, I attempted suicide. »
In 2022, Richardson had separated with a bang from his girlfriend, the Jamaican sprinter Janeek Brown, by going public with their “toxic” relationship, according to the admission of the two young women. The two exes then returned accusations of “physical, moral and verbal” harassment.
At the worst at the time, the American had been very affected on the track by completely missing her season and the selections for the World Championships in Eugene (Oregon), a great celebration and triumph of American athletics.
Enough to push back his coronation for only one year.