Sha’Carri Richardson Shares Reason for Her Olympic Relay Side-Eye: ‘We Had the Confidence and the Faith’

Sha’Carri Richardson agrees the iconic image from the moment in which she stared down her opponents mid-stride during the 4 x 100m relay at the Paris Summer Olympics belongs in the Louvre — or somewhere where she can look upon it.

“I may have to put it up in my house,” Richardson, 24, said in an interview with Refinery29.

Known as the “Sha’Carri Stare,” the Texas sprinter is now giving context to the side-eye seen ‘round the world, which she employed while coming from behind on the anchor leg of the relay and nabbed the gold for the Team USA.

“I looked over and I just knew that no matter what was going on, there was nobody that I was going to allow — even myself — to be in front of me,” Richardson told the outlet. “I wasn’t going to even allow myself to not cross that finish line in first place and not get that medal, or to let down those ladies and the support that we received when it comes to us crossing the finish line, in first place as Team USA.”

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Running in fourth position, behind Melissa Jefferson, Twanisha Terry and 200m gold medalist Gabby Thomas, Richardson knew the team had a good shot of standing atop the podium.

“We just knew that if we were our very best and executed, we had the confidence and the faith,” she said. “Not even just confidence, but the faith that we had in the practices that we put in, and the ability that each lady had, and also the trust that we had in each other. We knew that no matter what we were going to do our very best and ultimately deliver the gold. And so I literally just trusted every single body before me and it almost was like a chain reaction.”

Richardson continued, “And once I got the stick, it was like the baton was just full of love and determination. I just knew that when I had this baton in my hand, not only was it for these three ladies before me, but it’s for a nation. It’s for a world that understands and believes in us four. So getting this thing and running down the track, I knew there was no option but to do my best and I did my best.”

The Dallas native, who won the silver medal in the 100m final with a 10.87, had a split of 10.09 in the relay. Her two medals in Paris come as redemption after missing out on the Tokyo Olympics due to being disqualified for testing positive for THC.

 

In a December 2023 interview with PEOPLE, the Olympic sprinter shared that her determination “comes from knowing” that she’s “been in the world in a way that not necessarily is the way a lot of people could handle or really bounce back or survive.”

“And the fact that I’m able to stand here and be the athlete I’ve been, I’ve been the woman I’ve been,” Richardson told PEOPLE. “I’m wiser. I’m calmer, I’m disciplined and I’m more focused on the responsibility that I have as well as my passion for what I do.”