Sha'Carri Richardson, tested positive for cannabis, could miss the Olympics

With the Tokyo Olympics just 4 weeks away, America's fastest athlete and sprinter, Sha'Carri Richardson, could be suspended after failing a doping test and testing positive for cannabis.

The Jamaica Gleaner first reported that Richardson had tested positive for a banned substance, with an anonymous source revealing that she was positive only for cannabis, information confirmed by the New York Times.

On the morning of July 1, 2021, Sha'Carri Richardson tweeted, «I'm human.

I am human

- Sha'Carri Richardson (@itsshacarri) July 1, 2021

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In an exclusive interview with Today Show Sha'Carri said, «I take responsibility for my actions. I know what I've done, I know what I'm supposed to do, I know what I have the right not to do, and I made this decision anyway.»

Richardson lost his biological mother a week before the Olympic trials, and said cannabis was his way of coping with grief. «Finding out about something like that, something that I would say is probably one of the biggest things that has impacted me in my life, my relationship with my mom, it was definitely very heavy,» Richardson says.

«Putting on a face, having to go before the world, to hide my pain. Who am I to tell you how to face a fight you've never known before?»

«Dealing with my mental health,» says Richardson, «just with that pressure inside of me.».

The drug test was conducted at the U.S. Olympic Trials. The minimum 30-day suspension would disqualify Richardson from the 100-meter dash, but not from the 4×100-meter relay at the Olympic Games.

In a performance that was hailed on the Internet, Richardson had won the 100 meters at the U.S. Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon, on June 19. Her time was 10.86 (wind: -1.0 m/s), and due to a failed doping test, she was provisionally disqualified.

Richardson faces a disqualification of one to three months by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which classifies cannabis as a «substance of abuse». Although the updated its regulations on January 1, 2021, Cannabis still carries a severe penalty, with a maximum four-year ban for athletes.

Richardson isn't the only athlete to face stiff penalties for using cannabis. Michael Phelps admitted to using cannabis. Phelps was suspended by WADA for three months after publishing a photo of himself sinking a bong in 2009. He also lost a lucrative sponsorship deal with Kellogg's because of the cannabis image.

Olympic athletes can sometimes get away with using cannabis, as long as they don't do it during competition. Richardson will be able to challenge the suspension if the cannabis was not consumed while she was racing, but in a context outside or prior to competition. Due to the long half-life of cannabis and the length of time the THC remains in the body, the consumption of previous months may still be visible.