Sha’Carri Richardson is openly criticizing Monday’s ruling that will allow figure skater Kamila Valieva to continue to compete in the Beijing Olympics.
The 15-year-old Russian athlete has been cleared to participate in Tuesday’s individual event despite testing positive for a banned substance on Dec. 25 ahead of the Winter Games.
In July, Richardson was left off of Team USA’s track & field team for the Tokyo Olympics after accepting a one-month suspension following a positive test for marijuana at the U.S. Olympic Trials.
“Can we get a solid answer on the difference of her situation and mines?” Richardson tweeted Monday morning. “My mother died and I can’t run and was also favored to place top 3. The only difference I see is I’m a black young lady.”
Can we get a solid answer on the difference of her situation and mines? My mother died and I can’t run and was also favored to place top 3. The only difference I see is I’m a black young lady. https://t.co/JtUfmp3F8L
— Sha’Carri Richardson (@itskerrii) February 14, 2022
Richardson said she was dealing with the passing of her biological mother at the time of the Olympic trials, where she placed first in the 100m.
“We all have our different things we deal with, but [I have] to put on a face and have to go out in front of the world and put on a face and hide my pain,” Richardson told NBC’s “Today” after receiving her suspension.
Richardson also called into question the delay in Valieva’s test results. A Stockholm lab reported the figure skater’s Dec. 25 positive result for trimetazidine on Feb. 8, after the Winter Games had already begun.
“Failed in December and the world just now know however my resulted was posted within a week and my name & talent was slaughtered to the people,” Richardson tweeted.
In their ruling, the Court of Arbitration for Sport cited Valieva’s age, saying that the figure skater is a “protected person” under the World Anti-Doping Agency’s code.
Valieva will return to the ice on Tuesday in the women’s individual figure skating event.
