Despite the ban, Richardson still had hope of competing in Tokyo. The relay will take place in Tokyo in on Aug. 5 and 6, after Richardson’s suspension expires. USATF strictly uses trials performance to select teams for individual events, but under its rules for relays it has greater discretion to choose athletes.
USATF filled its 4x100 relay pool spots with English Gardner and Aleia Hobbs, who finished sixth and seventh at the trials, the best finishes behind Richardson among sprinters not already on the team. Gardner is a repeat Olympian.
Richardson launched into sudden fame with her performance at the trials, blowing away the field in all three rounds of the 100 meters with striking style and bravado. Having entered as the second-fastest woman in the world this year, she ran with flame-like orange hair flowing behind her, long fingernails and extended eyelashes, evoking her idol and one of the greatest American sprinters, Florence Griffith Joyner. After a dazzling semifinal race, Richardson proclaimed to an on-track NBC interviewer, “I want the world to know I’m that girl.”
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