Sha'Carri Richardson, Alen Hadzic and our unending forgiveness for white male athletes

[Jilly_in_VA]

In seemingly less time than Sha’Carri Richardson’s world-stopping, 100m triumph at the US trials, the matter of her Olympic-disqualifying suspension for a positive marijuana test has transformed routine sports talk fodder into a full-blown ethical debate for a divided nation.

In her defense marijuana is legal in a host of states across America, including Oregon, where Richardson went full That Girl while stamping her ticket to Tokyo. But on the flip side this is still America, the puritanical-feigning, War on Drugs-waging nation that’s been championing for marijuana’s inclusion on Wada’s banned substance list ever since Cheech & Chong started lampooning weed as the palliative of choice for the chronically lazy.

Rather than stoke these flames, Richardson accepted responsibility and didn’t much campaign to run in the Olympic 4x100m. And even though the event postdates her suspension, USA Track & Field argued that placing her on the team anyway would have been unfair to her American rivals who had competed fair and square. While Jenna Prandini and Gabby Thomas replace Richardson in the 100m and 4x100m respectively (that’s right; it takes two), the 21-year-old Dallas native walks the ESPYs red carpet, stars in commercials for Nike and Beats by Dre and otherwise casts an acrylic neon shadow on the Games. No, it wasn’t a perfect resolution. But it seemed like a win-win. Or at least it did until Alen Hadzic entered the chat.

Going into these Games, few figured to be checking for Hadzic, the 29-year-old épée alternate on a US team that was a longshot to win a medal. The notable exception: six female fencers who wrote to the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) in May demanding for an Olympic ban for Hadzic, the prime focus of an investigation into multiple accusations of sexual assault.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/jul/26/shacarri-richardson-alen-hadzic-olympics-suspensions-fencing