The Time Is Now for Track and Field Stars to Restore U.S. Dominance
While competitors in the women’s 100-meter final were introduced, one by one, Richardson leaned back against a brick wall near the entrance tunnel, swaying back and forth. She presented a fierce, focused calm. Winds whipped around Hayward Field, then stopped abruptly, right when Richardson sashayed out toward the starting blocks.
Upon reaching them, she continued with the swaying. She wore a pink headband, a gold speed suit and long nails painted the same hue. She stared straight ahead, unblinking. Cameras panned to family in the stands. Her grandmother clasped both hands. Cameras panned back toward those starting blocks.
Soon, the gun sounded, echoing from the stadium’s Rapunzel-like tower toward the restaurants down on Agate Street. Richardson started slow, in the middle of the pack. But she closed the deficit with ease, pulled ahead immediately and finished first (10.71), 0.09 ahead of second-place finisher Melissa Jefferson. Of course she did.
The tears that formed in Richardson’s eyes at the finish line spoke to her personal path, the last three years full of dominance and heartbreak. She had won this same race before the last Olympics but never did compete in Tokyo in 2021; instead, she was suspended after a positive test for THC metabolites. The ongoing debate—and continued legalization or decriminalization—over cannabis didn’t matter. Richardson came back, winning gold in the 100 and bronze in the 200 at the 2023 world championships. Then she began preparation for next month’s Paris Games, like the rest of America’s budding, on-the-cusp track hopefuls