Sorry, No Sha'Carri

The U.S. Olympic track & field team has been officially named, and Sha'Carri Richardson is not included.  This shouldn't have come as a surprise to anybody.  Even though she was eligible for the 4x100 relay, her agent indicated over the weekend that they weren't thinking about it.  So the decision to leave her off actually wasn't a hard one.

That hasn't stopped social media from its collective freak out that's been going on ever since Richardson's suspension was first announced a few days ago.  Unfortunately for all the outraged people on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, demanding her reinstatement wasn't actually gonna do anything.  (For one thing, she admitted her guilt and accepted her suspension, so that really was the end of it right there.)

All that the "arguments" on Richardson's behalf show is how much people don't get it.  Whether it's plain ignorance or simply not understanding how the whole process works, this isn't USA Track & Field's "fault."  Nor is it Jenna Prandini's.  Prandini was treated especially unfairly.  This has nothing to do with her!  And she didn't "take" Richardson's spot on the team.

Some of the comments towards and about Prandini were particularly vile, but the ones directed at USA Track & Field and the USOPC really didn't make any sense.  There was the "why don't you want another gold medal?" crowd, as if the result of the women's 100 in Tokyo was a foregone conclusion (Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was gonna have something to say about that even if Richardson was there).  Almost as prevalent was the "your rules suck" crowd who seem to think that USATF and the USOPC arbitrarily made this decision and could just reverse it.  (You can't pick and choose which rules you follow!)

One of the most common rationales people gave for why Richardson shouldn't have been suspended is because marijuana is legal in Oregon, where the Olympic Trials took place.  So what?  It's also legal in a number of other states.  Which is a completely irrelevant fact!  Because, as crazy as it sounds, the world anti-doping code isn't based on Oregon state law!

Likewise, there was the "marijuana isn't performance-enhancing" crowd.  That argument is at least a little stronger than the "it's legal in Oregon" argument, but it's still somewhat dubious.  Not everyone is in agreement with that point, but, even if they were, that too wouldn't matter.  Because, peformance-enhancing or not, marijuana is still on WADA's banned substance list!

Now, whether pot should be on the banned substance list is a completely different debate.  And it's probably one worth having.  But it's not gonna happen now, and they're not gonna make any exceptions to it either!  So, whether the rule is stupid or not, and whether everyone agrees with it or not, it's still the rule.

Then there's the most idiotic argument of all--that she was somehow being targeted.  While it's true that in the real world, the majority of marijuana arrests are people of color, that's yet another irrelevant statistic in this situation.  Every athlete who competed at the Olympic Trials was subject to drug testing.  Richardson is no different.  And it became even more likely that she'd be tested once she made the team...just like everyone else who made the team!

Even President Biden was asked about it, and his answer summed up the situation perfectly: "It's unfortunate, but the rules are the rules."  It's really that simple.  Marijuana is listed as a banned substance under the WADA code.  It's been that way for years.  Richardson knew this and she decided to light up anyway.  So, regardless of who you want to blame, the fault is 100 percent her own.  And she knows it.  Which is why she owned up to her mistake.

It was actually kind of refreshing to see the level of maturity she's displayed through all this.  No excuses, no declarations of innocence.  She owned up to what happened and explained why.  We can all empathize with her.  (I was a mess when my mom died!)  As a means of coping with her grief, she made a poor choice.  And she's paid dearly for it!

And what did Richardson have to say after having to put her Olympic dreams on hold (again)?  Three words.  Three words that said it all.  "I am human."  She made a mistake.  She knows it, she's sorry about it, and she regrets it.  She also acknowledged that she's only 21, so it's not like Tokyo was going to be her only Olympic chance.  She even vowed to dominate the sport heading into the Paris Games, when she'll still be just 24!

Also worth noting here is that the timing is the real issue.  Her suspension is only for one month.  If it happened at any other time of the year (or in any other year), we might not even know about it until after it happened.  (Michael Phelps once served a three-month marijuana suspension that nobody knew about until it was over.)  But because it happened at the Olympic Trials, which took place less than a month before the start of the Olympics, it became a problem.  And that's why America's collective panties got in a bunch.

However, even if Richardson's suspension had somehow been lifted by USATF or the USOPC, that wouldn't have put her on the team anyway.  Her result at Trials was voided, and the top three finishers at Trials are the ones who make the team.  So, she would've also needed to have her Trials result reinstated...and that would've looked awfully suspect everywhere else in the world.

Of course, the 4x100 relay in Tokyo is scheduled for after her suspension expires, and USATF had two discretionary picks for the relay.  They normally go to the fifth- and sixth-place finishers at Trials, but that's not a requirement.  USATF could've included Richardson in the relay pool if they chose to.  But that would've opened up a whole new can of worms!  (Besides, as her agent's comments indicated, I'm not sure she would've wanted to go just for the relay.)

So, people can be as outraged as they want on social media.  They can threaten to not watch the Olympics all they want because of how unfair they think it is.  But that doesn't change the situation.  And the only person actually affected by all of this seems to be at peace with it. 

Sha'Carri Richardson made a mistake.  She knows it, and she has accepted the consequences.  Even though those consequences mean missing the Olympics!  Is she disappointed?  Of course!  But she isn't blaming anybody else either.  Unlike her online "supporters," she's taking responsibility.  We can all learn something from her.