Rebecca Washington Is Not Replacing Sha’Carri Richardson
The Claim
Mormon athlete Rebecca Washington is set to replace Sha’Carri Richardson on the U.S. Olympic team.
Emerging story
On July 2nd, a Twitter account called Victory News Network posted a claim that track star Sha’Carri Richardson would be replaced on the U.S. Track and Field team with a Mormon athlete named Rebecca Washington, who came in 4th in early Olympic trials. The post claims that Washington “hopes to help inspire the nation's children to say ‘no’ to drugs,” and that Jesus Christ put her on the Olympic team.
The claim follows last week’s news that Richardson has been penalized for testing positive for marijuana, which prevents her from competing in this year’s Olympics.
Misbar’s Analysis
Rebecca Washington is not a real person and is not replacing Sha’Carri Richardson. The claim comes from a Twitter account that describes itself as a parody news site. Richardson will be replaced by Jenna Prandini, who placed 4th in the track and field Olympic trials. Prandini is also the person pictured in the viral post.
After Richardson tested positive for marijuana she was suspended from the U.S. Olympic Track and Field team for 30 days starting on June 28th. She told the Today Show that she’d used marijuana to cope with the news that her biological mother had died. She was raised by her grandmother and was told about her mother’s death by a reporter. "To hear that information come from a complete stranger, it was definitely triggering,” she said. “It was definitely nerve-shocking." She tested positive while in Oregon, where cannabis is legal.
Richardson’s replacement, Jenna Prandini, finished in the 100m trial finals with a time of 11.11 seconds. She earned 4th place after Teahna Daniels at 11.03, Javianne Oliver at 10.99, and Sha’Carri Richardson at 10.86.
