The honors keep piling up for Sha’Carri Richardson as she sets her sights on the 2024 Olympics.
On Friday, Richardson was celebrated by her hometown when the Dallas Independent School District named the track where she ran high school competitions after her and emblazoned her name on it.
Richardson is one of the most decorated out athletes of the year. She came out publicly in a 2015 tweet, posting “My family know I’m bi.”
This week, she was named by USA Track and Field the 2023 Jackie Joyner-Kersee Female Athlete of the Year.
The newly christened Sha’Carri Richardson track is located at John Kincade Stadium at David W. Carter High School.
To top everything off, the city of Dallas proclaimed that November 10 would be officially recognized as Sha’Carri Richardson Day.
Throughout 2023, it’s been Sha’Carri Richardson Day anytime she’s stood 100 meters away from a finish line.
The ceremony followed an astonishing summer where Richardson ran through the fastest sprinters in the world, winning gold medals at both the USA Track and Field Nationals and World Championships.
All of the pageantry took a visibly moved Richardson back to her youth on the same track that now bears her name.
“I see that little girl who stood right here at Kincade. I told my mama I want to be great. I told my godparents I want to be better. I told my family I want to take care of them, and being right here in the moment, able to look back and see that I’m able to do that and more, I don’t want to stop,” she proclaimed.
Richardson is no stranger to inspirational moments, creating an all-timer when she won the 100 meters at the 2021 US Olympic Trials and headed into the stands to embrace her grandmother.
Unfortunately, her victory was invalidated a few days later when Richardson tested positive for marijuana and was suspended. It turned out her biggest obstacle to qualifying for the 2021 Olympics was a World Anti-Doping Agency policy stuck in 1988.
She referenced her positive test in her speech, telling the crowd, “I did have a moment that could’ve crushed me beyond measures, but in that moment, I chose better. I chose to be wiser. I chose to allow that moment to build me.”
Considering her performance this summer, she chose wisely.
Now Richardson is training her focus on the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, declaring, “We cannot stop at World Champion, but it’s a nice beginning.”
Her name is already on a track in Dallas. Next year, she’ll be making her mark on one in Paris.
