I am Human

A story for my blog about Medina Spirit’s positive drug test at the Kentucky Derby sat unfinished among my Google docs. My goal was to illustrate how track and field’s drug testing protocol is the most comprehensive of all sports. The Sha’Carri Richardson bombshell brings this issue to the front pages and provides me serious motivation to complete this post. 

The opening of the post remains pertinent . . . 

At least it was a horse this time.

Frankly, I gave a sigh of relief when I learned it was not a track athlete but the horse, Medina Spirit, embroiled in the latest drug scandal. The track and field community is a little touchy in the face of positive tests for performance enhancing drugs (PEDs). We just can’t handle another black eye in the middle of our Olympic build-up to Tokyo.

Then again, Sha’Carri Richardson isn’t just another athlete.

I Believe I Can Fly

Sha’Carri Richardon is brassy. This makes her a polarizing athlete. Nevertheless, she bluntly speaks the truth which is why public sentiment has overwhelmingly come down on her side after Friday’s announcement of her positive drug test for THC (marijuana). 

MoveOn.org launched a petition in support of Richardson which has so far received over 500,000 signatures. The petition requests the International Olympic Committee (IOC), World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) to reinstate Richardson to the 100M in the Tokyo Olympic Games. In addition, Congressional Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamie Raskin worked with the Subcommittee on Civil Rights & Civil Liberties to formally ask USADA to lift Richardson’s suspension. It’s not just Tweeters and Instagram kids supporting Richardson. It’s a movement. 

Double Standard

So, Medina Spirit seamlessly trotted off to the second stage of the Triple Crown but Sha’Carri Richardson is out of the Olympics. WTF?

The drug testing system for horse racing is not under federal oversight.” This means each state implements and enforces its own rules.” This is why Medina Spirit’s positive test in Kentucky had no bearing on the horse racing at the Preakness in Maryland.

The Charlatan Trainer

Consequently, Bob Baffert (Medina Spirit’s trainer) remains a revered trainer even though horses he has trained have racked up twenty-nine drug violations over his career.  Seventy-four horses have also died in his care in his home state of California since 2000. Clearly, the equine industry values winning over integrity.

On the other hand, the track and field drug testing system is centralized and robustly supported. WADA lays down the law for all athletes who wish to compete in the Olympics. USADA oversees WADA’s agenda in the United States. In other words, the track world tirelessly works to weed out dopers. 

Citius, Altius and Fortius

This stance is the foundation of the OlympicGames.  Young athletes may not consciously know the “Olympic Values” but they are embedded in their journey. Joy of effort, fair play, respect for others; pursuit of excellence; and balance between body, will and mind is at the core of the statement, ”I am an Olympian.”

Horse racing is majestic but the business is murky. The business model heavily relies on stud fees not race winnings to reach profitability. Race tracks survive on gambling revenue. It is no wonder a man like Baffert is among its mist. 

Obstination

When Baffert emerged from the muck of the stables to defend his team against the drug charges he claimed he was, “Totally shocked . . . This is a pretty serious accusation. We’re going to get to the bottom of it. We didn’t do it.” 

Days later once Baffert saw he could not skirt the charges he claimed the anti-fungal ointment Otomax applied to Medina Spirit was unknowingly tainted with the banned anti-inflammatory betamethasone. Finally, he blurted on Fox News, “ We live in a different world now, this America is different. It was like a “cancel-culture kind of a thing.”

Truth to Power

Conversely, Sha’Carri Richardson appeared on the Today Show the morning the news of her positive drug test broke.  She appeared with minimal makeup, for her, backed in a corner between a door and a wall. Her bravado was softened but her candor remained, “I want to take responsibility for my actions . . . I know what I did, I know what I’m supposed to do. . . I apologize if I let you guys down, and I did.” The interviewer, Samantha Guthrie, was almost driven to tears by Richardson’s raw honesty.

This was as much an Olympic moment for Richardson as her 100M victory less than two weeks earlier.

Failed Promises

The institutions that govern us are merely a reflection of their leadership. In spite of the brilliant aspirational message championed by the IOC, it has let us down on numerous global issues of importance. It ignored anti-Semitism in Germany identified by a 1934 United States fact finding mission. In turn, Germany retained their bid to hold the 1936 Olympics Games which turned into an Adolf Hitler propaganda campaign. The governing body’s sexism limited opportunities for women for years. For example, “concerns for women’s health” kept the marathon and 10K meters run out of the Olympics until the 1984 Games. 

Healing

Ironically, USA Track and Field, the sports governing body, may be correct in their cryptic, seemingly tone deaf statement in regards to the failed drug test: Athlete health and well-being continue to be USAT&F’s most critical priorities and we will work with Sha’Carri to ensure she has ample resources to overcome any mental health challenges now and in the future. 

Sometimes people who are hurting will self-sabotage. People aren’t brands. They are only humans. The weight of a nation on the shoulders of a 5’1 “little girl” from Dallas who everyone underestimated is daunting. Richardson’s desire to return better than ever is more difficult than we realize.

I’m pulling for her.