When Sha’Carri Richardson accused Jamaicans of homophobic attacks for dating one of their own

Sha'Carri Richardson has the world's fastest time in 2024

When Sha’Carri Richardson accused Jamaicans of homophobic attacks for dating one of their own

Joel Omotto 13:04 - 19.12.2024

American sprint queen Sha’Carri Richardson appears to have found love in the arms of Christian Coleman but her past relationship saw her experience a major fallout with Jamaicans.

American sprint queen Sha’Carri Richardson has been making headlines recently over her private life after ‘going public’ that she is dating fellow sprinter Christian Coleman.

Richardson and Coleman have been spotted together at various events but while they have not said anything, their actions have revealed a lot.

Their recent lovey-dovey moment was at the USATF awards gala in Florida where they ‘all but confirmed’ their relationship with a clip and photos posted on social media.

It has left track and field fans excited by having another athletics power couple, following in the footsteps of Tara Davis-Woodhall and Hunter Woodhall as well as Noah Lyles and his fiancé Junelle Bromfield.

But had things turned out differently, Richardson would perhaps be making news as an American-Jamaican athletics power couple, just like Lyles and Bromfield, having been in a relationship with Jamaican sprinter Janeek Brown.

However, her relationship with Brown ran its course in 2022 when she accused the sprinter of abusing and stealing from her while she also alleged that Jamaicans subjected her to homophobic attacks.

“I was in a relationship with a Jamaican athlete that never cared about me from jump,” the then 22-year-old Richardson shared on her Instagram stories.

“I was abused and stole from yet protected her from the judgment of her country and family while they dragged me. I had to deal with homophobic and so much more that I’m still healing from.”

“I don’t understand how someone can just walk out of your life and not care about you anymore,” a hurting Richardson said in another post.

Brown would later deny the allegations, claiming everything was “lies” but in another interview, she admitted that she was indeed abusive to her American partner.

“I was abusive once that there's physical evidence of. And we moved on, and even after then, I was trying to move on from that, we still got nowhere,” said Brown.

“Yeah, I was going through something – I was finding myself, that's why I am coming to social media, you feel me? So yeah, it's a transformation; I'm going to find myself now. I may look different now.”

One person who has since found herself is Richardson as the situation happened at a time when she was dealing with a lot in her life.

The sprinter had been locked out of the Tokyo Olympics the year before, despite winning the 100m trials, after she tested positive for Cannabis, later admitting that she took the drug to cope with the death of her biological mother.

She, however, bounced back to make it to the 2023 World Championships where she won gold in 100m and bronze in 200m before claiming Olympics silver in 100m and gold in 4x100m in Paris this year.

Now more focused and having found love and comfort in the arms of Coleman, 2025 promises to be a season of more success for the 24-year-old.

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