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SAINT-DENIS, France There are moments that you know will live in Olympic history the moment you see them. Sha’Carri Richardson, running the anchor leg of the women’s 4×100 relay final in a steady rain, turned her head with 20 yards remaining and eyed her closest challenger, Great Britain’s Daryll Neiba.
The look Richardson gave Neiba was pure, searing competitive fire. Richardson took the measure of her opponent, then turned and surged forward just a touch more to claim gold for the United States in a time of 41.78. It was a magnificent moment, an iconic moment, the kind of image that inspires nations. It was a long time in coming for Richardson, and now that victory was at hand, she howled in exultation.
Richardson and her teammates Melissa Jefferson, Twanisha Terry and Gabby Thomas embraced on the track and wrapped themselves in a large American flag. They had every reason to smile, here at the culmination of years of hard work, anticipation and hope. It was a stark contrast to the men’s 4×100 relay, run just 17 minutes later, where the Team USA men botched a handoff en route to a disqualification and yet another Olympics without a relay medal.
After the race, speaking publicly for the first time these Olympics, Richardson was as standoffish as her teammates were ebullient. Asked about her thoughts right after the race when, for a moment, the Stade de France scoreboard showed the U.S. in second place by five one-hundredths of a second
The moment I will describe is realizing that when we won as USA ladies, it was a phenomenal feeling for all of us,” she said. “That’s the answer I have to your question.” She did not speak after that, and did not appear at a post-race press conference.
Still, regardless of how she wants to express it, the victory is the sweetest of prizes for Richardson, who had missed out on opportunities to win gold in both Tokyo and earlier in these Games.
HERE COMES SHACARRI RICHARDSON! Team USA takes GOLD in the womens 4x100m. #ParisOlympics NBC & Peacock pic.twitter.com/ZM6qaYCQOw
NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 9, 2024
Under a steady drizzle, the team of Melissa Jefferson, Twanisha Terry, Gabby Thomas and Richardson started in the fifth lane, with Jamaica on one side and France on the other. Team USA entered the stadium from a tunnel with a calm, determined stride, a brief pose and then a quick jog to their stations.
Then the race began, and there was no more time to do anything but race. Even on a wet track, the steps were true, the handoffs perfect. Team USA finished nearly a second slower than the Olympic and world record of 40.82, set at the 2012 London Games, understandable given the conditions. The team from Great Britain (41.85) finished in the silver medal position, and Germany (41.97) won bronze.
Richardson had rescued the USA in the semifinal relay on Thursday, coming from behind to erase a deficit caused by a bad handoff. In the second-to-third-leg handoff of that semifinal, Thomas appeared to leave too early and needed to slow down to take the baton from Terry. Team USA came very close to a disqualification, but Thomas had begun to take the baton before leaving the passing zone.
For Richardson, this gold medal is sweet validation of a career spent chasing Olympic glory. She won silver earlier these Games in the 100m, a notable achievement but not the medal she had sought. In 2021, she had qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, but lost her slot after testing positive for marijuana use.
Just 24, Richardson will have the opportunity to continue to build her Olympic legacy in Los Angeles in 2028. While she could have taken advantage of a golden to coin a phrase opportunity to speak her mind after the race, that look she gave as the race ended did a fine job of speaking for her.