Team USA’s Sha’Carri Richardson and Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce were handed a significant inconvenience as they were denied entry to the warm-up area through the main gate before the women’s 100m semis and finals on Saturday.
St. Lucia’s Julien Alfred is officially the fastest woman in the world, having won gold in the final. And Fraser-Pryce will rue the lost opportunity as she withdrew before the decider.
Richardson and Fraser-Pryce had relatively easy qualifications but endured a frustrating Saturday. The athletes both chose to stay outside Olympic Village, which was apparently a problem as they had no idea of a critical change.
When they arrived outside the facility on Saturday, they were told they could not access the entrance they went through the previous day, as the competition’s organizers had changed the rules overnight.
As the aforementioned sprinters found out, athletes not staying in the Village had to pass through a different entrance as they wouldn’t have arrived on their team bus. But neither of them was told beforehand, and they weren’t allowed through.
They had to walk around the corner to another gate a reasonable distance away, both of them understandably confused.
Things probably could have been much worse, as the change could have led to an unwanted scene. But apart from being inconvenienced and probably thrown off a bit, it’s about all they were made to deal with.
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Of course, the Olympic Committee was to blame, given that the change was completely unnecessary. However, Teams USA and Jamaica may also be to blame as they would have been informed of the alteration and expected to tell the athletes about it.
It leaves one to wonder whether they had any idea to begin with.
Ultimately, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce withdrew from the final, while Sha’Carri Richardson placed second.
St. Lucia, meanwhile, is celebrating its first-ever Olympic medal while they hope Julien Alfred can come up with another at Sunday’s 200m event.
