Is this Sha'Carri Richardson's time? After lost Olympic shot, the sprint star is back (2024)

Making up for lost time is a misnomer. Time can’t be recovered. It’s a scarcity, inherently unretrievable. So Sha’Carri Richardson can’t make up for the years of waiting and working towards her first Olympics. She can’t go back and undo the failed marijuana test that deprived her of an Olympic debut in 2021.

The only thing she can do now, as the Olympic trials kick off Friday at the University of Oregon, is prove time wasn’t lost at all. It was seized, converted into fuel.

Three years of waiting. Three years of stigmatization. Three years of delayed anointing. It’s now time for the 24-year-old Richardsonto snatch the crown she seems destined to wear.

And perhaps because time has been lost, and conservative isn’t her style, Richardson declared for the 100- and the 200-meter at the trials.

Finishing top three in the 100-meter race at the Olympic trials will earn her a spot in Paris and put her on the biggest stage of her sport. If she does the same in the 200, she could attempt to become the first American woman since Florence Griffith-Joyner, aka Flo-Jo, to win the daunting sprint double. In 1988, Flo-Jo followed her 100-meter win by setting the world record in the 200 (21.34 seconds) which still holds today.

It might be optimal for Richardson to focus on the 100, considering the difficulty of Olympic gold in her best event. But as long as she’s waited for this moment, why not go for it? She’s already spent a while on the porch of the superstardom her ability long prophesied.

In June 2021 at the Olympic trials, delayed a year because of COVID-19, she ran the 100-meter dash in 10.86 seconds in the final. Surging from behind with a superstar’s finish, Richardson won by more than a tenth of a second. She’d realized her dreams of making the Olympics.

SHA'CARRI RICHARDSON IS GOING TO THE TOKYO OLYMPICS!!! #TrackFieldTrials21 pic.twitter.com/M23mFqnxSq

— Team USA (@TeamUSA) June 20, 2021

A few weeks later, though, the United States Anti-Doping Agency announced her urine sample tested positive for marijuana. Her time at the Olympic trials was invalidated, ruling her out for the 100 in the Tokyo Olympics. She acknowledged smoking marijuana while coping with the death of her biological mother and accepted a one-month ban after completing a counseling program. She would’ve been eligible for relays in Tokyo but, with only the 4×100-meter relay a possibility, she was not selected to the team.

Richardson became a sympathetic figure for those who believe marijuana shouldn’t be on the banned substance list (it still is). She became a target for those disappointed in her failure to follow what most deem a simple rule, many of whom already didn’t vibe with her flamboyance.

Either way, she’s still magnetic. This weekend, she returns to the reputed Hayward Field for the Olympic trials. Her chance at redemption has arrived.

She’s still dripping with potential and ever-captivating. She runs strong enough to feel. Her closing speed can be breathtaking. She exudes confidence on the track like she knows her destiny is to be one of the greats. Her blend of brilliance and bravado is an intoxicating mix. The talent. The hair. The nails. The lashes. The tats. The physique. The charm. She’s the Flo-Jo of Hip-Hop. She’s insanely marketable for it. Her endorsem*nt resume includes Nike, Beats by Dre, Google, Sprite and Olay.

This is all without having graced the Olympic stage. Imagine if she wins gold.

She’s America’s hope against the supremacy of the Jamaican women in the marquee event of the sprints.

Officially, a U.S. woman hasn’t won the 100 since Gail Devers in 1996. Marion Jones won in 2000 but her gold medal was vacated after admitting to taking performance-enhancing drugs during the BALCO scandal.

Jamaica has dominated the last four Olympics on the women’s side. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce won back-to-back gold in the 100 in 2008 and 2012, followed by the same feat of consecutive golds by Elaine Thompson-Herah at the 2016 and 2020 Games.

Jamaica has also won four of the last five golds in the 200-meter race. Allyson Felix won gold in the 200 in 2012, making her the first American woman to win the event since 1992.

In the last 20 years, including the 2004 Olympics, Jamaica women have won 11 of 15 medals in the 100 and six more in the 200. That’s 17 of 30 medals across the two premier races.

Richardson beat Fraser-Price and Jamaican Shericka Jackson at the 2023 world championships in Budapest. Richardson’s 10.65 mark in that race is her current personal best. In May, Richardson beat Thompson-Herah at the Prefontaine Classic. Thompson-Herah finished last in the race, her first in eight months. The five-time Olympic medalist was injured at the NYC Grand Prix in June. It was grave enough for her to withdraw from the 200-meter race in Jamaica’s trials, ending her bid to defend her Olympic gold. She’s still planning to run the 100 in her country’s trials.

Richardson will have a harder time in the 200. In April, she hovered around 23 seconds in both 200-meter races for the Diamond League events in China. Her qualifying time — 21.92, also her personal best, set at the 2023 world championships — is third best among the declared runners for the 200 meters at the U.S. trials. Reigning Olympic silver medalist Gabby Thomas (21.60) and Ole Miss breakout star McKenzie Long (21.83) are the other Americans who have run sub-22 seconds in the past year. Abby Steiner (21.77 in 2022), Jenna Prandini (21.89 in 2021) and Tamara Clark (21.92 in 2022) also have matched or bested Richardson’s time in the past.

But if Richardson breaks America’s drought in the women’s 100, and perhaps wins a second gold in the relays, she’ll be one of the brightest stars of the Olympics and return home a hero. She will have fulfilled the prophecy of her greatness. She will have justified the national hype that’s followed her since her time at LSU. The wait will have been worth it. And she’ll be entering her prime for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, a household name with a chance at becoming an all-time great.

That’s what is on the table for Sha’Carri this weekend in Eugene. Patience has been her ally. But her moment is almost here.

If this is her time, she has no choice but to seize it.

(Top illustration: Eamonn Dalton; photos: Tim Clayton / Corbis via Getty Images)

Marcus Thompson II is a lead columnist at The Athletic. He is a prominent voice in the Bay Area sports scene after 18 years with Bay Area News Group, including 10 seasons covering the Warriors and four as a columnist. Marcus is also the author of the best-selling biography "GOLDEN: The Miraculous Rise of Steph Curry." Follow Marcus on Twitter @thompsonscribe