At the height of Sha’Carri Richardson’s career, she was a force of nature, blazing past rivals and turning every track into her runway. Dominance became routine, but one moment in particular grabbed the world’s attention: the 2023 USA Championships in Eugene. Just before the 100m final, Richardson ripped off her iconic orange wig, revealed her braided natural hair, tossed the wig aside, and then blasted through the finish line in 10.82 seconds. The clip became an instant legend. Years later, Richardson has finally revealed the secret behind that unforgettable moment.
During her appearance with Serena and Venus Williams on the Stockton Street podcast, Sha’Carri Richardson faced a flurry of rapid-fire questions. In the middle of it all, Serena highlighted her favorite Sha’Carri moment, the iconic scene early in Richardson’s career when she ripped off her wig. The former 100m world champion smiled and said,
When Serena Williams asked her to walk them through the moment, she added, “It was a fun moment.” Serena asked whether she had planned it, to which Richardson revealed, “That was actually planned, literally. Even my braider and my hairstylist, both were confused, like, ‘Okay, if this what you doing, this where we’re going, we are going with you.’”
I planned it out,” she continued. “I was just so much confident in myself that year, that season, and how much work I put in that so at that point I just like ‘I’m feeling good,’ like I’m literally having fun because I have done the work. I knew I was gonna win. I knew I was just going to be my best self and what my best is, I know it’s just out of this world. I just believed that about myself”
Richardson’s decision to toss the wig before the finals showcased just how confident she was that season. In that race, she didn’t just win; she went on to claim the 100m World Championship title in Budapest, clocking 10.65 seconds. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that 2023 was the best year of her sprinting career. As she told the Williams sisters, it was a moment that represented her “
During the thirty-minute conversation, Sha’Carri Richardson shared everything that had been hidden about her, and in her conversation with Serena, she revealed how her husband, Alexis Ohanian, helped her with her voice.
Sha’Carri Richardson became part of Alexis Ohanian’s Athlos this year after he personally invited her to join the all-women’s event as an advisor-owner. Although she hasn’t competed in the last two editions, she has remained an active member of the advisory board alongside Gabby Thomas and Tara Davis-Woodhall and will continue shaping the league’s future.
During her conversation with the Williams sisters, Richardson explained how Ohanian helped give athletes a stronger voice at a time when the sport was struggling.
“He gave us a voice, you know, in a lot of different ways, like creating the meet, like just creating different opportunities to have we can show up, and I think that was an opportunity that definitely I was grateful to be a part of. I know the other ladies as well, but also it’s a stepping stone, truly, for athletes to see as possible and for other things,”
said the former 100m world champion.
Sha’Carri Richardson further expressed her excitement for the team-based league Athlos is coming up with next year. Though Richardson hasn’t signaled whether she’d participate herself, she did open up about the importance of Athlos giving athletes like herself the chance to shape their sport and business opportunities outside the track too.
Mike Johnson parlayed a 661-game NHL career that included stops with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Tampa Bay Lightning, Phoenix Coyotes, Montreal Canadiens, and St. Louis Blues into a broadcasting career with TSN.
Johnson has been the color commentator for numerous NHL and IIHF broadcasts, but recently, he has been the primary commentator for the Maple Leafs’ regional TSN broadcasts. Unsurprisingly, given his ties to so many Atlantic Division rivals, Johnson doesn’t have too many good things to say about the Boston Bruins.
That continued on a recent NHL Network hit, where he dropped the take that two-time Stanley Cup Champion and 1000-point getter Brad Marchand doesn’t have a place in the Hockey Hall of Fame. While criticizing the Bruins on the Maple Leafs broadcasts makes sense as the regional guy, taking such a bizarre stance about Marchand’s Hall of Fame status is a bridge too far.
Winning two Stanley Cups, recording 1000 points, winning 2 World Junior Gold Medals, scoring the championship-winning goal in the 2016 World Cup, and playing an essential role on Canada’s 4 Nations Face-Off team when many said he shouldn’t have made it, isn’t enough of a resume for Johnson. Neither was scoring two goals in the Game 7 clincher in 2011 or recording 20 points in 23 games for the Florida Panthers’ run last postseason.
Instead, Johnson believes that players like Keith Tkachuk and Curtis Joseph should be in the Hall over Marchand. Tkachuk, whose trophy case includes one Maurice Richard Trophy and a silver medal with Team USA, and Joseph, who was a Vezina Trophy finalist on a couple of occasions, and had a front-row seat to Martin Brodeur winning him an Olympic Gold Medal in 2002. Coincidentally, both were also former teammates of the non-biased Mike Johnson.
Johnson finished his explanation by saying that today he wouldn’t put Marchand in the Hall of Fame, but talk to him in three years and it’ll be a yes. My question would be what else could Marchand possibly achieve to make him worthy in Johnson’s eyes? An Olympic Gold Medal is one of the only things missing from the trophy case, which he might get a chance to win in a few months.
If Johnson was attempting to generate some clickbait from this take, it worked, but sometimes a biased take has to come under scrutiny. The good news is that his fans in Toronto will love the take after years of watching the man who doesn’t belong in the Hall of Fame dominate their team in the postseason.