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Sha'Carri Richardson opened up on the pressures of dealing with fame by managing her emotional stability.
Track queen Sha'Carri Richardson has been in the sporting limelight from her freshman year in college to dominating at global level as one of the fastest women in history.
The American sprint star has come a long way from 2019 when she set the collegiate record of 10.75s, to facing her fair share of challenges and pitfalls, especially following her notable setback in 2021, when she was suspended from the Tokyo Olympics.
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Likewise, she has also struggled to stay true to herself regarding critics, who have spent several years berating and doubting her talent. Yet, Richardson grew from all these and moved beyond her mistakes to moments of glory by winning the 2023 world title in Budapest and powering to the Olympic 100m silver medal in Paris.
Reminiscing on her path to redemption and glory in an exclusive interview with essence.com, Richardson stated she learned to walk the fine line between her emotional triumphs and triggers - while staying true to her winning formula.
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16:59 - 21.12.2024
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Alleged lovebirds Sha'Carri Richardson and Christian Coleman were present together for the 2024 The Bowerman award ceremony.
"Coming into this level of fame, I definitely had moments where I felt as if I would have to sacrifice who I am in order to have a career, in order to be what the world had basically deemed me to be,” said Richardson.
“And those moments were scary, because I’m like, If I can’t be me, I can’t even give you all what you respect and love me for. I wasn’t happy when I wasn’t being myself. I wasn’t happy when I was trying to listen or, I guess, take in the criticism, or defend myself from the criticism. Nothing was making me happy, because I wasn’t me. But the unhappiness is what got me back to myself.”
The 24-year-old further revealed she had to protect her peace first and found that emotional stability.
“I felt like I had to protect my emotions because I had to protect everything else around me first. And so I definitely feel like now, emotional stability is not a defence. Emotional stability is understanding myself—and expressing myself in a way that it can be received.”
Richardson's success on and off track is a motivation to several black women around the world, and she continually hopes to keep making them proud by crossing the finish line first in any of her major races.
With the 2025 World Championships set for Tokyo, the talented speedster will be gunning to successfully defend her 100m title - an accomplishment that will further stamp her name among the greats' and prove her critics wrong.
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