Sha’Carri Richardson Is Left Off the U.S. Olympic Team

Team USA’s roster of track and field athletes at the Tokyo Olympics will be missing its  biggest newsmaker ahead of the Games: sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson.

The 21-year-old winner of the U.S. Olympic track and field trials’ women’s 100 meters last month was left off the team named Tuesday by USA Track & Field, after an anti-doping test detected a chemical found in marijuana. Richardson was disqualified from the 100 meters, but USATF, the sport’s national governing body, had the option to select her to run in a relay in Tokyo. It declined. 

“While USATF fully agrees that the merit of the World Anti-Doping Agency rules related to THC should be reevaluated, it would be detrimental to the integrity of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Track & Field if USATF amended its policies following competition, only weeks before the Olympic Games,” USATF  said in a statement Tuesday. 

“All USATF athletes are equally aware of and must adhere to the current anti-doping code, and our credibility as the National Governing Body would be lost if rules were only enforced under certain circumstances.”

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