‘Archaic’ rules and contemporary predicaments
Three weeks ago, American sprinter Sha’Carrie Richardson was one of the frontrunners to challenge the 100m gold at this year’s Tokyo Olympic Games. However, for the past two weeks she has been the main subject of ridicule on social media after it was announced that she will be facing a one-month suspension on the premise that she tested positive for marijuana; a substance that was banned and is featured on the prohibition list of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
Despite marijuana use being prohibited, the restrictions were significantly lowered following the London 2012 Olympics. The bans were reduced from two years to a mere 30-days’ suspension, such as the one currently being served by Richardson. It was designed to catch athletes who used marijuana in the hours immediately prior to competition, as among other things, it is used to mask other banned substances.
This suspension led to a rift between Jamaicans and African Americans, primarily on Twitter. The former jested that this was God’s way of humbling her ego, and the latter, with misconstrued arguments and no salient points, engaged in an, arguably, lost cause with Jamaicans who are professional social media bullies, especially when there is a general consensus. In this case, the consensus was that Sha’Carrie, despite how well she ran, would not have beaten our Jamaican women athletes such as Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Elaine Thompson-Herah and Sherika Jackson, all of whom were, undeniably, in great form!
While we knew that the suspension specifically obstructed her from participating in her individual specialty, the 100m event, we patiently awaited the decision to see if Sha’Carrie would be featured in the 4×100m relays on the USA’s Olympic roster. The list of athletes was produced by USA Track and Field (USATF) and Sha’Carrie’s name was not listed among those who would compete in Tokyo later this month. As such, she will be missing what would have been her first Olympic Games and, like the rest of us not in Tokyo, she will be watching the action on her television.
The ban has triggered what many consider to be a long overdue debate on an archaic rule against the use of substances such as marijuana. While we can agree that, on its own, marijuana does not enhance performance, a rule is a rule and does not prompt an immediate change when its favour goes against a hegemon. Additionally, marijuana is, increasingly, becoming legal in respective states, but the Olympics is not solely an American sport, and all cultures must be taken into consideration. The United States Anti-Doping Agency’s (USADA) judgement in compliance with WADA’s rule did not deny Sha’Carrie a professional opportunity, she denied herself the opportunity to participate as she was aware of the possible repercussions of her actions, but apparently thought she would have been exempted from suspension because she ran a time which caught the attention of the athletic community.
With Jamaicans ‘dragging’ her ego and her obvious hurt, Sha’Carrie went on a rant on social media, publicly responding to anyone who thought the suspension was the right move and blatantly ‘cussed’ them out with the use of ‘indecent’ words, as well as directly messaging individuals. At this point, despite my lack of psychological expertise, it became rather clear to me that Richardson’s breach went deeper than a ‘let me break the rules and use marijuana…’ moment. Rather, her use and subsequent actions magnified her hurt and her inability to cope. Losing her mother and the stress of preparing for competition might have had a negative effect on her behaviour but does not excuse her accountability and the lack of discipline she has been portraying on social media.
As an athlete, one would think that discipline would have been one of those characteristics that should influence Sha’Carrie’s behaviour. Notwithstanding the need for her genuine accountability, in my perspective Sha’Carrie did not receive the assistance needed through professional psychological support to cope with the grief of losing her mother, as well as she lacks a public relations or social media expert to prepare her for interviews and to ‘clean up’ her social media spaces.
Despite Sha’Carrie’s plea to boycott the Olympics, we excitedly await Friday 23 July 2021 as we prepare to cheer for our Jamaican athletes and any other athlete we deem worthy of our support, from the comfort of our living rooms.
Yanique Mendez has a B.Sc. in Political Science from The University of the West Indies and was recently appointed to the National Youth Advisory Council of Jamaica.
