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Sha’Carri Richardson Not Picked For The US Olympic Relay Team, Shutting Down Hopes Of Her Still Going To Tokyo

Richardson was expected to be a challenger for the gold medal in the 100m sprint.

Photograph: Kirby Lee/ USA Today Sports

Hopes persisted that Sha’Carri Richardson, widely believed to be a contender for the 100m sprint gold medal in Tokyo, would still make it to this year’s Olympics. But after the 4x100m relay squad was revealed, and Richardson not among the runners, those speculations were put to rest.

The squad picks were announced by USA Track and Field on Tuesday. Richardson is currently facing a one month ban from competing after it was discovered she took marijuana at the US Olympic Trials in June, which also caused her 100m sprint time to be annulled.

However, her ban ended before the beginning of the relay races in early August, and the US team is allowed two discretionary picks beyond the fastest four runners at trials, meaning Richardson was not without hope that she could still win a medal in Japan. But her name was not included in the list of 130 athletes released by USATF that will be part of the US Olympic Team.

In a statement, USATF said it was “incredibly sympathetic toward Sha’Carri Richardson’s extenuating circumstances” and supports the re-examination of the international rules about cannabis consumption.

Richardson’s agent, Renaldo Nehemiah, has said that he has not spoken about USATF’s decision with her yet.

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