American track star Sha'Carri Richardson offered a cryptic message to her 4.2 million Instagram followers days after rescuing the 4x100m Olympic women's relay team.
With a sensational 10.09-second closing leg, the Team USA star blazed to a relatively comfortable first-place finish, and on Tuesday Richardson wrote on the social media platform: "Keep your star players happy" - followed by a heart emoji.
Richardson entered the Paris Games as one of the most high-profile American track athletes after her tremendous summer in Budapest for the 2023 World Athletics Championships. The Dallas native surged to gold in the 100m, also picking up the 200m bronze, and featured in the victorious 4x100 relay.
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This success in Hungary made her an overwhelming favorite in the individual 100m event, with -250 odds compared to the rest of the field. However, the American sensation suffered a slow start and was never able to catch up to St. Lucian runner Julian Alfred, continuing her search for an Olympic gold medal.
Richardson faced completely inverted circumstances when the baton finally reached her for the final 4x100 leg, with Melissa Jefferson, Twanisha Terry and Gabby Thomas combining to barely keep Team USA in the medal places. However, she would surpass every runner in the final leg by at least 0.1 seconds, besting silver medalists Great Britain's anchor by 0.3, and even allowed herself time for a victorious look in the mirror before crossing the finish line.
"Passing the baton to Sha'Carri is a very special and unique thing, she's so fast," fellow track star Gabby Thomas said after the American gold medal. "We know we're in good hands as soon as she gets her hands on the baton. I felt very proud and I was grateful. I was grateful to have competed with these ladies, especially Sha'Carri and we got the gold."
Richardson's trajectory toward stardom became evident quite early on, posting the second-best female one-day double in history at the NCAA Outdoor Championships during her freshman season at LSU before quickly dropping out and entering the professional ranks. But her tremendous social media following — Richardson has more than double the following of any other American track and field star and gained one million followers during the Summer Games — relates both to her prodigal running talent and fashion-forward branding.
While a more subdued, aerodynamic look has been historically preferred among sprinters, Richardson bucks this precedent entirely, toeing the starting block with long, untied hair, acrylic nails and plenty of additional accouterments. Her wildly popular Instagram feed is filled with paid endorsements showcasing her wide variety of fashion approaches, believing it to be directly linked with her philosophy on running.
"Fashion is the flow of the body. Fashion is the flow of expression," Richardson told VOGUE magazine in July. "Fashion relates to the way that I move my body. The way that I run down the track is almost like same way I could strut down a runway. Fashion and sports are one and the same, an expression of self and an expression of flow... Basically, this is my own cat walk. My lane is my catwalk."
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