After an Olympic heartbreak and a slew of other losses, Richardson shushed her haters, placing second in the Pre Classic 100-meter race this weekend.
The world championships are just two months away, and it seems that last year’s guffaw has not deterred Richardson from shining. On top of the incessant chatter and not-so-subtle racism constantly pelted at her, as, Richardson also revealed that she had been healing from an abusive relationship with another woman athlete prior to the race. “I was in a relationship with a Jamaican athlete that never cared about me from jump,” she wrote in an Instagram Story in mid-May.
For Richardson to make a comeback like she did this week is a feat of its own. She’s overcome death, racism, domestic abuse, homophobia, and has had her appearance and body poked and criticized as part of the larger sexualization of Black women. As, her subsequent wrist-slapping by the media was reminiscent of how institutions treated Florence Griffith-Joyner, who was called a “Now, at 22-years-old, we can’t just let Sha’Carri run.