Source: WENN.com; Arturo Holmes / WENN.com/Getty
Sha’Carri Richardson has had a hard time securing a victory on the track since she was disqualified from the 2021 Tokyo Olympics for smoking marijuana. Despite her losses, fans have cheered her on as she keeps her head held high. Now, fellow track star Usain Bolt is offering some unsolicited advice to Richardson. During an interview with the New York Post, he said the 21-year-old Dallas native should work harder and say less.
“I would tell Sha’Carri to train harder and to be focused and not say too much,” he said. “If you talk that big talk you have to back it up. So just train hard and focus on that and try to come back do it and then talk about it.”
Bolt, who has eight gold medals of his own, said Richardson’s trash talking gave runners from his home country more motivation to defeat her. Richardson placed ninth in the Nike Prefontaine Classic last month while Team Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Anne Fraser-Pryce, and Shericka Jackson placed in the first three slots. Before the race, she uploaded a clip of her mouthing Nicki Minaj’s famous words, “I took some time off to rest and now it’s game time, b******. You have no idea!”
“Jamaicans were vexed because she was talking a lot of s*** before the actual race, it is just one of those things,” he said. “Jamaicans don’t like when people talk s*** about us because we are a very proud people. So if you talk about us we are gonna want you to back it up. It definitely gave those women the extra push [to win.]”
On September 3, she lost at the 200m race at the Wanda Diamond League at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels to Namibian athlete Christine Mboma, Yahoo said. Richardson landed in fourth place when she finished the race in 22.45 seconds. On September 5, she landed in second place at the 100m at the Meeting Città di Padova in Italy, World-Track reported. Even though she and Javianne Oliver both finished the race in 11.19 seconds, Richardson placed second. Richardson has remained optimistic despite her recent defeats and shared her hopeful thoughts after she lost back to back races overseas.
“I thank y’all for teaching me the strength I never knew I had. I thank you for teaching me my value before I even knew it existed. I thank y’all for teaching me to live my truth yet understand my future. I thank you for teaching me not to want for anything and to work for everything,” she said alongside each photo. “To my babies I WILL NEVER STOP SO YALL CAN KEEP GOING. 2022 I don’t feel sorry for any of you.”