Sha’carri Richardson returned to the track on Saturday, August 21,  after being suspended from the Tokyo Olympics for a positive marijuana test to compete in the 100-meter dash. In spite of coming in last place Richardson says she is “Here to stay.”

Richardson impressed everyone with her debut at the 100-meter dash in the U.S. track and field trials last month in Eugene, Oregon coming in with an impressive 10.64 seconds and again finishing with 10.86 seconds this led her way to the Tokyo Olympics. Things soon took a change when Richardson tested positive for marijuana and was suspended for one month which started June 28. Before her suspension during an interview she was informed by a reporter that her biological mother had died unexpectedly. This sent Richardson into a state of emotional panic as she says and found relief through marijuana. Richardson responded to the suspension with “Not making an excuse or looking for any empathy in my case, but being in that position of my life and finding out something like that something that I would say has impacted my life positively and negatively in my life when it comes to dealing with the relationship with my mother. That definitely was a heavy topic on me.” 

This past race Richardson ran 11.14 seconds at Nike Prefontaine Classic finishing in ninth place which was more than half of a second behind the time of the Tokyo gold medalist Elaine Thomspon-Herah of Jamaica. In an interview after the race Richardson commented “This last month was a journey for me, but that’s no excuse, because at the end of the day I’m an athlete. Today was a day, but it’s not everyday. It’s not the end of the world. And like I say, if you count me out, jokes on you.” Richard finished up by saying “It was one race, I’m not done, you know what I’m capable of.”