In the latest episode of 1v1 With Kelley O'Hara presented by RBC Wealth Management, O'Hara sits down with US track legend and Real Housewives of Atlanta star Sanya Richards-Ross to discuss all things retirement.
To open the conversation, the four-time Olympic gold medalist delves into how a broken toe helped her decide to retire. She later explains how she began manifesting her future, from becoming a parent to writing books to starting her own business.
Seeing other athletes struggle with the transition, Richards-Ross sought help from a sports psychologist and shifted her perspective on retirement into something positive.
"What is it that I think will help to set me up, help me feel like this transition is not a failure?" the world champion sprinter recalled asking herself. "I'm actually moving on to something where I can be equally as great and find equal fulfillment in it."
Later, Richards-Ross shares her definition of success, the pros and cons of starring in a reality TV show, and more.
Subscribe to Just Women's Sports on YouTube to never miss an episode.
Five days into the Olympic track and field competition, Team USA is well on their way to matching their Tokyo medal count of 26. With 11 medals — three of them gold — the US leads all nations in the sport, with Kenya siting in second place with three medals.
US women make Olympic history
Triple jumper Jasmine Moore kicked things off on Saturday, becoming the first US woman in history to win bronze in her event.
Then yesterday, Tokyo discus gold medalist Valarie Allman notched a 69.50-meter toss, becoming just the third woman to secure back-to-back golds in the event.
St. Lucia's Alfred takes fastest woman title
Though two US women made Saturday’s 100-meter podium — Sha’Carri Richardson won silver while Melissa Jefferson won bronze — it was Julien Alfred who raced into the history books.
The 23-year-old secured Saint Lucia’s first-ever Olympic medal with her gold medal win, finishing 0.15 seconds ahead of Richardson — the event's largest margin of victory since 2008.
Missing from this year’s 100-meter race was 2008 gold medalist and Jamaican legend Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who failed to run in her qualifying semifinal days after fellow Jamaican and 100-meter favorite Shericka Jackson bowed out of the event.
And with three of the eight-runner lineup repping Team USA, including gold medal–favorite and world No. 2 Gabby Thomas, Tuesday's race to watch is the 200-meter final, which takes off at 3:40 PM ET.
Where to watch Team USA compete in Olympic track and field events
Track and field events will continue through August 11th, with live coverage across NBC networks.
Olympic track and field takes flight today, with a talented Team USA looking to ascend the podium once again.
From early this morning until a few hours before the Closing Ceremony, track and field stars will compete across 48 events in a quest for Olympic glory.
USA track and field shoots for Olympic podium return
In 2021, Team USA led all nations with a collective 26 medals, with athletes competing in women’s events — including Katie Moon (pole vault), Valarie Allman (discus), and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (400-meter hurdles) — responsible for five of the team’s seven golds.
Since then, the squad has only improved, earning 33 and 29 medals at the last two World Athletics Championships respectively, including 12 golds in Budapest last summer.
New rule offers track and field athletes an Olympic redo
For the first time in Olympic history, the 2024 Games will feature a repechage round in the 200-meter through 1,500-meter races, offering athletes who underperformed in heats a second shot at advancing.
In previous Olympics, those spots went to athletes who failed to qualify in their heats but had the fastest overall non-advancing times.
"It’s kind of like a make-up quiz," said US Trials 100-meter hurdles champ Masai Russell. "If it didn’t go right the first time, you could get it right the second time. That’s really good because I feel like with the hurdles especially, anything can happen."
Team USA women's track and field athletes to watch
To call Team USA stacked would be an understatement. These are just a handful of the 61 US women’s sports superstars expected to set the standard in Paris.
Sha’Carri Richardson: Making her highly anticipated Olympic debut after a 2021 suspension, 2024’s fastest woman is favored to become Team USA’s first women’s 100-meter gold medalist since 1996 — and with Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson dropping that race, it’s Richardson’s to lose.
Gabby Thomas: Tokyo bronze medalist Thomas will face back-to-back world champion Jackson in the 200-meter, with both runners chasing legend Florence Griffith-Joyner’s 1988 world record.
Katie Moon: Tokyo gold medalist Moon will defend her pole vaulting title at her second Olympics in Paris, going up against stiff competition in the form of fellow Olympic gold medalist, Greece’s Aikaterini Stefanidi.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone: The 400-meter hurdles star's biggest competition is herself: McLaughlin-Levrone has lowered her own world record five times and is poised to become the event’s first-ever two-time Olympic champ.
Chase Jackson: The world’s top-ranked women's shot putter, Jackson will make her Olympic debut in Paris after winning gold at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships.
After winning the women’s 100m at USATF Nationals, Sha’Carri Richardson repeated a line that has guided her 2023 season: “I’m not back. I’m better.”
By winning the race at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, Richardson earned a spot at August’s World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, which will be her first major global championship. (Video of Richardson’s 100m win is embedded below.)
Richardson burst onto the scene in 2019 when set broke the 100m collegiate record at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships. She turned pro days later, but went on to place eighth at USATF Nationals, missing that year’s world championships.
Two years later, Richardson entered the 2021 season looking like the Olympic favorite. She won the women’s 100m at U.S. Olympic Trials, but that result was voided — and her Olympic spot revoked — after she tested positive for marijuana (which is banned in-competition).
Richardson struggled in 2022, missing out again on world championships after she was eliminated in the first round of the 100m at USATF Nationals. The Texas native later said she was dealing with injury.
But 2023 has been Richardson’s year. She opened the outdoor season by beating a stacked field — including five-time Olympic medalist Shericka Jackson of Jamaica and two-time Olympic medalist Dina Asher-Smith of Great Britain — to claim her first Diamond League win.
“I found my peace back on the track, and I’m not letting anything or anybody take that anymore,” Richardson said then.
During the preliminary round of the 100m in Eugene, Richardson clocked 10.71 — a new personal best and the fastest time by an American woman in 12 years. Only Jackson (10.65) has run faster this year.
While Richardson didn’t have the best start in the 100m final, she made up for it with a fierce kick, outsprinting Brittany Brown and Tamari Davis, who will also make their world championship debuts in Budapest. Richardson also has a chance to qualify for August’s World Championships in the 200m; she posted the fastest time in the preliminary round. The women’s 200m semifinals and final are on Sunday night.
Over the weekend, Richardson also took to Twitter to blast coverage of USATF Nationals and streaming issues on USATF.TV. She went on to call out FloTrack after the outlet tweeted “That’s how we do it!” about her 100m win.
Richardson replied with a GIF of Eddie Murphy from the 1999 movie Life: “We?!”
Sha'Carri Richardson took her wig off before her race...
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 8, 2023
then became national champion. #USATFOutdoors pic.twitter.com/4DE4dKUAxE
Sha’Carri Richardson runs 10.82 to take the women’s 100m national title.#USATFOutdoors | 📺: @CNBC and @peacock pic.twitter.com/06pj0m8SIr
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 8, 2023
"I'm not back. I'm better."
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 8, 2023
Sha’Carri Richardson after taking the women’s 100m national title. pic.twitter.com/2uJexyoB6S