UPDATE: Sha'Carri Richardson's return to the track did not result in a victory. The sprinter, who lost the chance to compete in the Olympics after testing positive for marijuana, came in ninth and last place in the women's 100-meter dash at the Prefontaine Classic on Saturday, Aug. 21.
Her time of 11.14 seconds was well behind Olympic gold medalist winner Elaine Thompson-Herah, who clocked 10.54 seconds for the second-fastest women's time in history, ESPN reported. Later in the day, Richardson withdrew from the women's 200-meter race.
"It was a great return back to the sport," Richardson told NBC, according to ESPN. "I wanted to be able to come and perform having a month off."
She continued, Not upset at myself at all. This is one race. I'm not done. You know what I'm capable of." She added, "Count me out if you want to. Talk all the s--t you want, cause I'm here to stay. I'm not done. I'm the sixth-fastest woman in this game, ever. And can't nobody ever take that from me. Congratulations to the winners. Congratulations to the people that won, but they're not done seeing me yet. Period."
___________
Sha'Carri Richardson s leaving her critics in the dust as she gets ready to make her comeback on the track after losing the chance to compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics due to a failed drug test.
The 21-year-old sprinter is set to compete in the 100- and 200-meter events at the Prefontaine Classic on Saturday, Aug. 21. It takes place in Eugene, Oregon, where she tested positive for THC, the main psychoactive constituent of marijuana, at the U.S. Olympic Track & Field trials on Jun 19, the day she won the women's 100-meter final.
Following the announcement of her test results on July 2, Richardson was suspended for a month and denied a spot on the U.S. 4x100-meter relay team at the Olympics, on which she was previously expected to win gold. She was also mocked and bullied online and continues to be.
"I wish the people that talk mess about me was cute at least," Richardson tweeted on Thursday, Aug. 19, adding a laughing emoji.
A day earlier, a person wrote, "The obsession with trying to break Sha'Carri Richardson's confidence is so strange." The sprinter replied, "The love ya'll show me, I'll never let the hate overshadow that. Positivity is sooo much greater than negativity. That's why God always wins and the devil fails."
Usage of marijuana is legal in the state of Oregon but is a banned substance for athletes competing in the Olympics. After losing her chance to compete in the games, which would have been her first, Richardson said that she'd taken the substance while coping with the unexpected death of her biological mother. Richardson, who was raised by her grandmother, also told NBC's Today show, "I want to take responsibility for my actions. I know what I did, I know what I'm supposed to do, I know what I'm allowed not to do, and I still made that decision."
On Friday, Aug. 20, a day before the Prefontaine Classic, Richardson reflected on her lost Olympic bid and watching the Tokyo Olympics.
"It was a moment of bitterness, but at the same time it was sweet because it just gives me more, it gives me more to show the world that I'm here to stay," she said. "And it just guarantees that I'm going to be here just a little bit longer in the game, but definitely watching it made me want to push forward and just grow from that."
She continued, "I'm here to take what it is that I have to take from the choices that I decided to make. You can't run from reality. It's still going to be there no matter how long you choose to ignore it, no matter how long you choose to think it's going to go away."
(E! and NBC are part of the NBCUniversal family.)
This story was originally published on Friday, Aug. 20, at 10:47 a.m. PT)