American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson on Friday confirmed that she was suspended for one month after testing positive for marijuana at the US Olympic athletics trials. This makes her Tokyo Olympics participation highly doubtful. Richardson was one of the top gold medal contenders for the Summer Olympics 2020. She won the 100m at the US trials but will now miss the main event in Tokyo.

In her defense, Richardson, while talking to NBS, said that she consumed marijuana to cope with “emotional pain” that she suffered on learning about the death of her biological mother from a reporter at the US Olympic trials last month in Eugene, Oregon.

Richardson has accepted a one-month ban from June 28 following the violation and also apologised to her fans for the same.

Also read: Maana Patel, India’s first female swimmer to qualify for Tokyo Olympics

Who is Sha’Carri Richardson?

 Sha’Carri Richardson is an American track and field sprinter who competes majorly in the 100 m and 200m races. Her first breakthrough was in 2019 when she became one of the 10 fastest women in history at the age of 19.

She broke the 100m record at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championships. She covered the distance in 10.75 seconds.

Richardson made her international debut in 2017 at the Pan American U20 Athletics Championships. She won a gold in 4 × 100-meter relay in which she competed against Gabriele Cunningham, Rebekah Smith, and Tara Davis

Also read: Tokyo Olympics has a Kim Kardashian connection. Find out here

In April 2021, Richardson became the sixth-fastest woman in the history and fourth-fastest American woman of all time by running her personal best for 10:72 seconds.

The sprinter also bagged several medals and feats in her teenage days. She won the 100 m title in 2016 at the AAU Junior Olympics, which is the largest national multi-sport event for youth in the United States. 

Apart from that, she won the title at the USA Track & Field Junior Championships in 2017.