Report: U.S. sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson tests positive for cannabis, could miss Olympics

Sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson, the U.S. Olympic Trials 100-meter winner, has tested positive for cannabis and could miss the Olympic Games in Tokyo later this month, according to a published report by a Jamaican media outlet.

The report came on the same day Richardson withdrew from Sunday’s Diamond League meet in Stockholm. No reason was given for her withdrawal. She also pulled out of the Trials 200 competition last week.

Keep scrolling for a gallery of photos of Sha’Carri Richardson’s victory at the Olympic Trials

Earlier Thursday Richardson wrote on her Twitter feed “I am human.”

A doping violation for cannabis could result in a one- to three-month suspension. The Olympic women’s 100-meter competition opens on July 30. The Games begin July 23.

USA Track & Field, the sport’s national governing body, did not respond to a request for comment.

Richardson was projected as the pre-Olympic favorite in the 100 in Tokyo along with Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the two-time Olympic and four-time World champion in the event.

The positive result came from a test performed during the Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon, according to The Gleaner, a Jamaican newspaper that cited unnamed sources.

Cannabis is considered a “substance of abuse” by the World Anti-Doping Agency code which prohibits “all natural and synthetic cannabinoids.”

While a cannabis positive can result in a four-year ban, the WADA code allows for a three-month suspension if it is found the drug was taken in a non-competition situation. The suspension can be further reduced to a month if an athlete agrees to participate in a treatment program approved by the athlete’s governing body.