A gold medal as an “honor”, the American Sha’Carri Richardson, world champion in the 100m on Monday in Budapest, was delighted to have been able to give “the best” of herself to triumph in front of accomplished athletes. “It is an honor to leave with this gold medal. I want to stay humble, I’m not the best, I’m just better (than before), “said the champion at the start of the press conference.
The 23-year-old American won after a half-hearted semi-final, where she missed her start, just over an hour before the final. “I said to myself, in the final, that I had survived all the laps to be able to give the best of what I can do in the final. Next to these legends (Jamaicans Shericka Jackson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, 2nd and 3rd, editor’s note) it’s just incredible. I was ready, I’m happy. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is an incredible athlete, I grew up watching her run. I had to do my best knowing she would be there. Seeing her on so many podiums shows me what I still have to do, that I still have a lot to accomplish, that it is possible to achieve great things,” she added.
The whimsical American was able to reach the top after two difficult years, the 2021 Olympics missed in Tokyo because of a positive cannabis test, then the missed selections in 2022 before the Worlds at home in Eugene (Oregon, United States). “I did not succeed in the selections last year, you were not obliged to mention it, she replied dryly to a question from an American media. The difference is that I refocused on myself, I was able to stay focused, down to earth, stay myself. I cut myself off from the outside, cut off from the media, from you.”
