Sha’Carri Richardson agrees that the iconic image of the moment she stared down her opponents mid-stride during the 4x100m relay at the Paris Summer Olympics belongs in the Louvre – or somewhere she can look at it.
“I might have to put it in my house,” Richardson, 24, said in an interview with Refinery29.
Known as “Sha’Carri Stare,” the Texas sprinter now gives context to the side eye seen around the world, which she used as she came from behind on the anchor leg of the relay to win gold for Team USA.
“I looked and I just knew that no matter what was going on, there was nobody I was going to let — not even myself — get in front of me,” Richardson told the news outlet. “I wasn’t going to allow myself to not cross the finish line first and not get that medal, or to let those ladies down and the support we got when it came to crossing the finish line first as Team USA.”
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Running in fourth place behind Melissa Jefferson, Twanisha Terry and 200m gold medalist Gabby Thomas, Richardson knew the team had a good chance to get on the podium.
“We just knew that if we were the best and executed, we had confidence and faith,” she said. “Not even just the trust, but the faith that we had in the practice that we put in place, and the ability that each lady had, as well as the trust that we had in each other. We knew that, no matter what, we would do our best and win the gold in the end. And so I literally just trusted every single body in front of me and it was almost like a chain reaction.”
Richardson continued: “And when I got the bat, it was like the bat was full of love and determination. I just knew that when I had this bat in my hand, it was not only for these three ladies before me, but it was also for the nation. It’s for the world that understands and believes in the four of us. So, picking this thing up and running down the track, I knew there was no other option but to give it my all and I gave it my all.”
From left: Sha’carri Richardson, Gabrielle Thomas, Twanisha Terry and Melissa Jefferson.
Sven Hoppe/image alliance via Getty Images
Team USA wins women’s 100m relay gold at Paris Olympics led by Sha’Carri Richardson and Gabby Thomas
The Dallas native, who won the silver medal in the 100-meter final in 10.87, had a gap of 10.09 in the relay. Her two medals in Paris come as redemption after she missed the Tokyo Olympics after being disqualified for testing positive for THC.
In a December 2023 interview with PEOPLE, the Olympic sprinter shared that her determination “came from the realization” that she had “been in the world in a way that’s not necessarily a way that a lot of people could handle or really recover or survive.”
“And the fact that I can stand here and be the athlete that I was, I was the woman that I was,” Richardson told PEOPLE. “I am wiser. I am calmer, more disciplined and more focused on the responsibility I have as well as my passion for what I do.”
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Source: HIS Education