Team Jamaica’s impressive performance during the women’s 100-meter dash at the Tokyo Olympics over the weekend had fans and natives of the Caribbean island rejoicing. The victory also opened the door for a few celebrities to throw jabs at Sha’Carri Richardson, the Olympic hopeful absent from the games after being disqualified in June following a failed drug test.
The ladies of Jamaica dominated the meet, which saw Elaine Thompson-Herah not only take home the gold with a time of 10.61 seconds but break the late Florence Griffith Joyner’s previous Olympics record set at the Seoul Games in 1988, shaving off one-hundredth of a second. She zipped past her top competitor and fellow Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce by .13 seconds. Shericka Jackson came in third with a time of 10.76 to complete a medal sweep for Jamaica.
The performance garnered fans’ praise on social media, including reggae star Beenie Man and Grammy-award-winning rapper Nicki Minaj. “How wi fi miss yuh??? #Jamaica 🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥.”
The post appeared to be a jab at Richardson, who, prior to final, launched out a post on Twitter seemingly asking if viewers of the game missed her presence. Critics speculated that perhaps she was referring to the times posted during the heats that preceded the final in Tokyo. Richardson had qualified for the American team with a time of 10.86 seconds with her victory in the final of the U.S. Olympic Trials on June 19.
When the 21-year-old tested positive for marijuana after that victory she was handed down a 30-day suspension, leaving her out of the 100 event in Tokyo. USA Track & Field subsequently decided not to include Richardson on the team at all despite her being eligible to compete in the 4×100 event following her month-long ban. She consequently missed her opportunity to compete with some of Jamaica’s best, including Fraser-Pryce and Thompson-Herah.
The “Anaconda” emcee co-signed the Beenie’s post, replying. “Big up uno self 🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲.”
She followed up with another Tweet that included photos of the winners along with the caption, “#QueenTingz u btchs can’t relate. And that’s ok.”
Some folks speculated that the rapper might have intentionally fired off the series of posts in response to old tweets of Richardson’s that resurfaced in which the athlete expressed dislike for some of the rapper’s music.
One user commented, “The non Caribbean Barbz gonna HATE this.”
Still, Richardson acknowledged her fellow athletes by sending off a congratulatory post on Twitter Saturday night, writing, “Congratulations to the ladies of Jamaica for the clean sweep. Powerful, strong black women dominating the sport.”
