Sha’carri Richardson, the fastest woman in the world, stands as a testament to the strength, resilience, and power held by Black women in the realm of sports. In a recent interview, she shared a profound realization about her relationship with track and field, stating, “I feel like for a while I saw this sport more as a job than the love I knew I had for it,” highlighting the challenges she faced while navigating the complexities of her career.

Richardson’s journey to reclaim joy and inner peace in her sport mirrors a broader narrative experienced by many Black women athletes. The scrutiny and attacks they endure, not only for their athletic prowess but also for their behavior, interactions with reporters, fashion choices, self-confidence, and occasional rule-breaking, reveal the heightened expectations and unfair judgments placed upon them.

In the face of these challenges, Sha’carri Richardson boldly defies convention. Beyond the brightly colored wigs and braids that made headlines during her rise to Olympic trials contention in 2021, she now sports a wavy two-toned Afro. This intentional expression of her identity challenges the status quo and stands as a symbol of authenticity.

Richardson joins the ranks of remarkable Black women athletes, such as Serena and Venus Williams, Coco Gauff, Angel Reese, Brittney Griner, and the late Florence “Flo-Jo” Griffith Joyner, who have faced intense scrutiny for aspects that their non-Black counterparts rarely encounter. The demand for them to be “superheroes” transcends their athletic abilities and delves into unrealistic expectations of behavior, speech, and presentation.

“It almost seems like we have to be superheroes,” Richardson expressed in an interview with Teen Vogue. “It’s just irritating because you take away the abilities, you take away the speed, you take away the talent … and we’re still human.”

Living at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities, Richardson has been open about her experiences as a survivor of domestic violence, a suicide attempt, and parental abandonment. Despite the trauma she has endured, it was her remarkable achievement of becoming the fastest woman in the world at the track and field world championships in Budapest that shifted public perception and renewed faith in her capabilities.

However, as Richardson continues to break records and challenge norms, she remains susceptible to respectability politics and misogynoir—prejudice specifically directed at Black women in the media. Sabrina Razack, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto, emphasizes the need to dismantle these harmful narratives, urging a change in the discourse surrounding the expectations of Black women athletes.

As we congratulate Sha’carri Richardson on her extraordinary accomplishments, let her story serve as a call to challenge ingrained biases, embrace authenticity, and acknowledge the strength that Black women bring to every arena, both on and off the field. Sha’carri Richardson is not just the fastest woman in the world; she is a beacon of empowerment, courage, and unapologetic self-expression.