Usain Bolt wants to see Sha’Carri Richardson be one of the best, but believes her mouth is holding her back.
Bolt says American sprinter should stop trash-talking and focus on training. The eight-time Olympic gold medalist explained the trash talk just makes her Jamaican competitors more determined to beat her.
He told The Post, “I would tell Sha’Carri to train harder and to be focused and not say too much … If you talk that big talk you have to back it up.
“So just train hard and focus on that and try to come back do it and then talk about it.”
In her much anticipated return last month, she failed miserably to back up her trash talk as she came in dead last in the 100-meter dash, which was won by Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah, who also took the 100-meter Olympic gold in Tokyo.
Just days before the race, Richardson used a 2017 Nicki Minaj meme that went viral on TikTok, saying, “I took some time off to rest and now it’s game time, b-tches. You have no idea!” Nike also released a brand new commercial in anticipation that she would show the world what she had.
“Jamaicans were vexed because she was talking a lot of s–t before the actual race, it is just one of those things,” he said. “Jamaicans don’t like when people talk s–t about us because we are a very proud people. So if you talk about us we are gonna want you to back it up. It definitely gave those women the extra push [to win.]”
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Bolt went on to explain how American sprinter Justin Gatlin would trash talk him as well.
“That was my thing with Justin Gatlin — because he’s the one that was always talking — so that gives me that energy like, ‘All right you think you’re gonna win let’s go!’
“So it does give you that extra boost to wanna beat that person.”
Richardson’s return to the track after her suspension at the Prefontaine Classic was on Bolt’s birthday, so he tuned in.
He said, “I actually watched the race it was on my birthday … so all my friends were there. We stopped everything just to watch the race. I knew Elaine [Thompson-Herah] was going to win.
“I knew she was going to run a fast time but I didn’t expect Sha’ Carri to come in last though.
“But it was like, ‘Oh s–t’ but the memes kept coming quick. You know Jamaicans they were laughing and just going in at her [Richardson]. It was just one of those things.”
Sha’Carri saw her name trending again in the news and has since fired back:
Richardson took to her Instagram Story on Sunday to re-post a fan comment that read, “Everybody want to give advice in the media but none of them actually take the time to speak to her outside the media. So I feel her. Stop speaking on me when you don’t even speak to me.”
The 21-year-old said “Good ‘humbling’ morning to y’all” and “I could not have said it better.” In a second slide, Richardson wrote, “Y’all haven’t even heard the half of me,” over a photo of herself smirking, with her legs crossed.
