'I Put That Respect On Me For Me'-  Sha’Carri Richardson on Earning Her Place Among Sprinting Greats

Sha'Carri Richardson won the world 100m title at the Budapest Championships in 2023. Photo: AP Photo/Ashley Landis

'I Put That Respect On Me For Me'- Sha’Carri Richardson on Earning Her Place Among Sprinting Greats

Festus Chuma 21:04 - 18.04.2025

Sha’Carri Richardson delivers a powerful performance on the global stage, marking a defining moment in her athletic journey.

Sha’Carri Richardson may have silenced the doubters in the most emphatic way possible on a warm night in Budapest in 2023.

At the World Athletics Championships, she not only claimed her first global title but did so with a time of 10.65 seconds to take gold in the women’s 100m final.

Richardson's time of 10.65 seconds was not just a personal best but it was the fastest ever recorded in the women’s 100m at the World Athletics Championships.

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In fact, at that time she was the fifth fastest woman in history. But for Richardson, the record books came second to something even more valuable — self-respect.

“Not even just the Jamaicans. I feel like I’ve earned the respect for myself,” she said in a raw post-race interview with NBC Sports as per SportsKeeda.

“That’s the biggest thing for me. Not just the world but for Sha’Carri Richardson. I put that respect on me for me.”

Richardson's performance dethroned the reigning queens of sprinting — Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce — who finished second and third in 10.72 and 10.77 seconds respectively.

The podium lineup was as elite as it gets, but it was the American who stood tallest, basking in a moment many feared might never come.

It was a moment earned not just through speed, but struggle.

Richardson’s road to Budapest in 2023 was anything but smooth.

She had been ruled out of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for marijuana — a suspension that followed shortly after the death of her mother.

Then, in 2022, she missed out on qualifying for both the 100m and 200m at the USATF Outdoor Championships, meaning she did not make it to the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon that year.

But while 2022 was marked by absence, 2023 was her loudest statement yet — delivered in near silence.

“It’s been a lot. I’ve been going through but to overcome all of that and my work speaking for itself. Being so silent this year because I wanted my performance to be all the words that I needed to speak myself. It feels amazing. It feels like everything is paid off,” Richardson said, holding back emotion.

That silence was not insecurity as it was considered by many to be focused. Throughout the 2023 season, she had remained largely out of the spotlight, letting her spikes do the talking. And when they spoke, the world listened.

“I’ve been downplaying myself for so long and this entire season. I know I belong, I know I deserve to be here and it just feels amazing to execute that as well,” she concluded.