Sha’Carri Richardson opens up on viral stare during Olympics race
Sha’Carri Richardson’s look toward her opponents from Great Britain and Germany at the end of the women’s 4×100 relay was one of the iconic moments of the Olympics.
Richardson, 24, was anchoring the United States relay team and made up a two- or three-meter deficit after taking the baton from Gabby Thomas to earn the first Olympic gold medal of her sprinting career.
She explained in an interview with Refinery 29 that the cheeky glance was not directed at her opponents but was rather a metaphorical look in the mirror.
“Honestly, that look over, if I had to just highlight anything, the look over was — it’s almost like it was a mirror on that side of me, and I’m just looking at a version of myself that nobody but me could see, if that makes sense,” Richardson told the outlet.
“I looked over and I just knew that no matter what was going on, there was nobody that I was going to allow — even myself — to be in front of me. I know that sounds crazy, but I was in that lane and feeling like I’m always my biggest competitor [so I had to] leave my best on the track.”
She continued to say the look was about self-motivation as opposed to showing her opponents up.
“I was just like, there’s no way that I’m not going to leave my best on the track. And so just looking over, it was more so showing that the hard work that all of us ladies in that 4×1 put in was not going to be in vain,” Richardson told the outlet. “I wasn’t going to even allow myself to not cross that finish line in first place and not get that medal, or to let down those ladies and the support that we received when it comes to us crossing the finish line, in first place as Team USA.”
Melissa Jefferson and Twanisha Terry were the other two competitors on the United States’ gold medal relay team.
Richardson took silver in the individual 100-meter final, her first Olympic medal after being forced to miss the Tokyo Games due to a positive marijuana test.
