At the very end of Sha’Carri Richardson's road to redemption lies a gold medal.
The track and field star, whose 2021 disqualification cost her a chance to compete in the Tokyo Olympics, is quickly making her way down that road as she looks to secure her spot on Team USA for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
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"What would it mean to make it to Paris? Just literally all the training, all of the support, all of the naysayers, it pays off," Richardson told NBC. "It pays off in that moment when you realize when you made that Olympic team."
Richardson, a Dallas native, made the 2021 Olympic team after winning 100m event at the trials to qualify, but she later test positive for THC, the chemical in cannabis. She was disqualified for one month, which prevented her from competing in on sports' grandest stage during the Tokyo Games.
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The Olympics went on without her.
She returned to the track at the 2021 Prefontaine Classic, finishing ninth. She returned to Olympic form nearly two years later, officially kicking off her revenge tour.
She won the 100m at the U.S. Track and Field Championships in a time of 10.82 seconds. She then claimed the title of fastest woman in the world with her 100m win at the 2023 World Athletic Championships in Budapest. She went on to kick off the Olympic year with a win at the Prefontaine Classic in a time of 10.83 seconds.
"I'm better, I'm stronger and I'm wiser," Richardson said. "I just knew that I was in a different position that I've never been in my entire life."
That soon could lead the 24-year-old to other places she has not yet been: the Olympics, and possibly the top of the podium.
Richardson is scheduled to run in her first Olympic trials preliminary on June 21 in Eugene, Oregon.
If she qualifies for the Games, she'll look to become the first American woman to win gold in the 100 meter since Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988.
Richardson is back on track, literally and figuratively, and she credits her family for helping to lead her down the road to Paris.
"My family is so special to me, only for the fact that they know me, supported me and been there for me much longer than I even knew I was going to be who I was," Richardson said. "They knew who I was going to be before I even put it together."
