Sha’Carri Richardson Is Left Off the U.S. Olympic Team

Source: WSJ:

July 7, 2021 at 06:57

Sha’Carri Richardson was left off the Olympic team named Tuesday by USA Track & Field. PHOTO: PATRICK SMITH/GETTY IMAGES

After a drug test picked up marijuana and knocked her out of the 100-meter event, USA Track & Field declined to select her for a relay in Tokyo

Team USA’s roster of track and field athletes at the Tokyo Olympics will be missing its biggest newsmaker ahead of the Games: sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson.

The 21-year-old winner of the U.S. Olympic track and field trials’ women’s 100 meters last month was left off the team named Tuesday by USA Track & Field, after an anti-doping test detected a chemical found in marijuana. Richardson was disqualified from the 100 meters, but USATF, the sport’s national governing body, had the option to select her to run in a relay in Tokyo. It declined.

“While USATF fully agrees that the merit of the World Anti-Doping Agency rules related to THC should be reevaluated, it would be detrimental to the integrity of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Track & Field if USATF amended its policies following competition, only weeks before the Olympic Games,” USATF said in a statement Tuesday.

“All USATF athletes are equally aware of and must adhere to the current anti-doping code, and our credibility as the National Governing Body would be lost if rules were only enforced under certain circumstances.”

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