- Microsoft pushes for gaming supremacy with 'Call of Duty' release
- Putin to meet UN's Guterres for first time in over two years
- Harris says she believes Trump is a fascist
- At US border, frustration over immigration as political football
- Harris leans on A-list, Trump on quirky coterie in homestretch
- Michigan's Mideast minority tempted to punish Harris in US vote
- Dodgers idol Ohtani eyes World Series coronation
- Goliath v Goliath: Yankees, Dodgers clash in World Series classic
- Pakistan aims to privatize flag carrier in November: Finance Minister
- Trump accused of groping model he met through Jeffrey Epstein
- Original 'Little Prince' typescript to go under hammer in UAE
- Messi and Miami have sights set on MLS Cup playoff triumph
- King Charles sips kava narcotic, to become Samoan 'high chief'
- Tesla shares jump as profits rise on lower expenses
- Trump boasts of near daily conversations with Netanyahu
- 'Too soon' to call Barca contenders despite Bayern romp: Flick
- Over 250 Uruguayan football fans arrested after Rio riot
- COP16 president hopeful of 'major announcements' soon
- Israel pounds Beirut, levels residential complex: state media
- Liverpool driven on by 'destroyed' season
- Barca thrash Bayern in Champions League, Liverpool stay perfect
- 'Freak' Haaland leaves Man City team-mates 'speechless'
- COP16 'green zone' celebrates nature's bounty
- Perplexity seeks news allies as it challenges Google
- Ten Hag argues Man Utd on the 'right path' to success
- Pay or 'blood flows': Peru battles extortion epidemic
- Raphinha hat-trick helps Barca thrash Bayern in Champions League
- Liverpool sink Leipzig to continue strong start under Slot
- Haaland acrobatics light up Man City rout of Sparta Prague
- Global business web behind Malaysia's 'houses of horror' youth homes
- Chair of global plastics talks pledges deal next month
- French mass rape victim tells court she is 'broken' but determined
- Lebanon media says Israel strikes Beirut suburbs, office of pro-Iran broadcaster
- Embiid, George out for 76ers' NBA season opener
- G7 to make $50 bn Ukraine loan available by year-end: Yellen
- US fines Apple and Goldman Sachs over Apple Card
- Over 350 green activists killed since 2018 in nature summit host Colombia: report
- Harris berates 'unhinged' Trump over Hitler remarks
- Turkey says PKK 'likely' behind deadly defence firm attack
- Proportion of women killed in conflict doubled in 2023: UN
- Five dead, 22 hurt in attack on Turkey defence firm
- US businesses 'hesitant' before 2024 elections: Federal Reserve
- Leverkusen held to stalemate in Champions League by battling Brest
- Frustrated Atalanta held to goalless draw by Celtic in Champions League
- Djokovic won't play Paris Masters, leaving doubt over season
- Bolivian transport workers strike over fuel shortages
- Fury expects to knock out Usyk in heavyweight title rematch
- Georgia ruling party stages mass rally ahead of key vote
- Attack kills 4, injures 14 at Turkey defence firm
- Another French top pick: Zaccharie Risacher starts life in the NBA
SCS | -2.73% | 12.47 | $ | |
NGG | 0.23% | 66.44 | $ | |
RBGPF | 1.59% | 63 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.39% | 24.64 | $ | |
AZN | -0.48% | 76.95 | $ | |
GSK | -0.05% | 37.98 | $ | |
BTI | -0.52% | 34.71 | $ | |
BP | -0.86% | 31.31 | $ | |
RIO | -1.54% | 64.49 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.69% | 24.76 | $ | |
RYCEF | -0.96% | 7.29 | $ | |
BCE | -0.33% | 33.21 | $ | |
BCC | 0.19% | 133.91 | $ | |
RELX | -0.43% | 46.82 | $ | |
JRI | -0.15% | 13.05 | $ | |
VOD | -0.95% | 9.46 | $ |
Sha'Carri Richardson, the pride of Dallas with Olympic gold in sight
Lauren Cross looked around the four-lane running track at David W. Carter high school in Dallas and tries to sum up what her goddaughter, world 100m champion Sha'Carri Richardson, means to this community.
"Sha'Carri is a representation of each and every girl to step on this track. All the foundation starts here on this track. So if she can do it, then you can do it," said Cross.
As she speaks, a small group of young athletes go through their paces despite the wind buffeting the track in this green suburb of the sprawling Texan city.
On this Monday in May, the track team has been given a day off after their exertions the night before in the Texas state championships in Austin.
Richardson left her mark on that event a few years ago, as the host of trophies in a cabinet in the corridor of the high school prove.
Things have moved fast for the 24-year-old since then. After being thrown off the USA team for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 for using marijuana, she achieved a breakout 100m title at the 2023 world championships in Budapest, with a remarkable run from the outside lane complete with extravagant nails and a celebration to match.
That victory has made Richardson one of the favorites for the 100m gold at the Paris Olympics this year and she continues the buildup to those Games at the Prefontaine Classic meet in Eugene on Saturday.
"When she came out here, she was so tiny, she was the smallest one." recalled Cross, who coached her from 2014 to 2018 and is still in charge of the school's track team.
"But she was the fastest I knew coming in. She always wanted to lead at the front of any race. She always wanted to prove that you can run with the top girls. That was one of the biggest things that I liked about her. She led by example."
- Track was a safe haven -
Richardson endured a chaotic childhood and was raised by her aunt and grandmother after her biological mother proved incapable of doing so, but she always knew that whatever else was happening in her life, the track offered a safe haven.
When she was barred from the Tokyo Games, she said she had used the drug to deal with the death of her mother a few days before the Olympic trials.
Two years later, she clocked 10.65sec to win the world championships gold and become the fifth fastest woman at 100m in history.
Roxxi Sutton, a student at David W. Carter, met Richardson in November last year, after her triumph in Budapest.
"She's a big inspiration. I look up to her because she made it far. And she overcame a lot of things. We came from where she came from. So it's like, if she can do it, we can too. And I know already I can."
Although she is now based in Florida, Richardson's exploits were marked by her school district in Dallas, which renamed the track, situated a few hundred yards from the high school on the other side of the I-20 highway, after her.
The sprinter is a huge source of pride in this largely Black area of southern Dallas.
On a strip of track at the high school, a little girl was running with a group of bigger girls, watched carefully by her mother.
"It feels good to have my seven-year-old out here running. You know, trying to get where Sha'Carri is," said the mother, ShoLand Williams.
"She comes from here. She ran from here. She's African American. And hey, that's where we are. So yes, I do teach her about it. And I show her the races and she loved watching every race."
Je’Miracle Guillory, an 18-year-old member of the high school's track team, told AFP Richardson was "an example".
"She's a great role model. A wonderful runner. She's consistent. No matter who's against her she's always going to do her best.
"And she's always positive. No matter how hard it gets. She always like get up and do it again and again."
There's more though: "I like her style. She has beautiful nails, beautiful hair. She don't have to pretend, she's just her. And I like that part."
Y.Aukaiv--AMWN