Sha’Carri Richardson Hits Out At Double Standard Over 15-Year-Old Olympian Drug Test Decision
Poppy Bilderbeck
Featured Image Credit: Alamy
US sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson has taken to Twitter to call out the double standards seen between herself and Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva.
Despite testing positive for a banned substance and being provisionally suspended, 15-year-old Valieva's ban was overturned by Russia's Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada) after she appealed.
Valieva has since been cleared to compete in the Beijing Winter Olympics, and has claimed that the reason she failed the drug test was because of a mix-up with her grandfather's heart medication.
However, Richardson has since spoken out against the contrast in the handling of the situation between herself and Valieva, after she was banned from the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 for 30 days – in turn, missing her event – after she failed a marijuana test.
On Monday, February 14, the sport's court of arbitration ruled that banning Valieva from the Olympics would 'cause her irreparable harm', The Guardian reports.
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Richardson took to Twitter the same day to speak out against the decision.
She stated: 'Can we get a solid answer on the difference of her situation and mines? My mother died and I can’t run and was also favored to place top 3. The only difference I see is I’m a black young lady.'
Richardson continued to highlight the disparity between the cases, tweeting comments such as, 'It's all in the skin,' and 'Btw THC definitely is not a performance enhance!!!!'
In another post she wrote: 'Failed in December and the world just now know however my result was posted within a week and my name and talent was slaughtered to the people.'
'Not one BLACK athlete has been about to compete with a case going on, I don’t care what they say!!!,' she concluded.
Richardson also retweeted reactions to the contrast between the way her case was dealt with opposed to that of Valieva's.
One said: 'So many of y'all owe Sha'Carri an apology for how y'all reacted to her situation last summer.'
Human rights lawyer Qasim Rashid stated: 'Sha’Carri Richardson: Tests positive for pot (which is not performance enhancing). Banned from Olympics. Kamila Valieva: Tests positive for Trimetazidine (which increases blood flow to heart). Approved for Olympics. I can’t qwhite put my finger on the difference here.'
Sports reporter, Clayton Collier, wrote: 'I don’t remember anyone considering the “irreparable harm” of suspending Sha’Carri Richardson for smoking pot to cope with her mother’s death.'
USA Today columnist Christine Brennan also expressed her disagreement with the decision, calling the result a 'devastating blow' to athletes who have 'fought so hard for clean support, who have gone the extra mile to prove they're not doping'. It's a 'dark day' for the Olympics, she said.
Sarah Hirshland, CEO of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), stated: 'We are disappointed by the message this decision sends. It is the collective responsibility of the entire Olympic community to protect the integrity of sport and to hold our athletes, coaches and all involved to the highest standards. Athletes have the right to know they are competing on a level playing field. Unfortunately, today that right is being denied. This appears to be another chapter in the systematic and pervasive disregard for clean sport by Russia.
'We know this case is not yet closes, and we call on everyone in the Olympic Movement to continue to fight for clean sport on behalf of athletes around the world.'
While Valieva has been allowed to continue in the Beijing Winter Olympics, the 15-year-old, whose drug test results were only revealed after she had helped Russia win gold in a team figure skating event, may face the possibility of being stripped of future medals and disallowed from further competitions.
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