Sha’Carri Richardson to Fans: ‘Do Not Donate’ to Team USA Fund

Sha’Carri Richardson runs in the Women 100 Meter but not advance to the next round during the 2022 USATF outdoor Championships at Hayward Field on June 23, 2022 in Eugene, Oregon. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

*Track sensation Sha’Carri Richardson claims athletes aren’t receiving money donated to the Team USA Fund.

On Dec. 6, Richardson called out Team USA on her Instagram Story for allegedly not paying its players. She wrote, “Do not donate. The athletes that need this money don’t see it.”

Per Team USA, “100% of your donation goes to Team USA athletes and the high-performance programming that supports them.” 

“Team USA does not receive government funding. Instead, we rely on donations from family, friends and fans like you,” the website states.

Richardson called out the organization days after being honored in Orlando, Florida, at the USA Track and Field’s Night of Legends ceremony, where she received the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Female Athlete of the Year Award.

“With the God that I serve, everything happens when it’s supposed to happen. So when I stand here today as the world champion, that’s because now was the time for that to happen. Now is the most impactful it would be, the most powerful it would be, and the most sincere it would be,” Richardson said in her speech, per Olympics.com.

“I understand the influence that I have, I understand the responsibility that I have to USATF and as a top female USA athlete, and to my country, and to my black family, to my beautiful women, to everybody that has been misunderstood for trying to be their best selves and not be put into a category because they do track and field and have been put in a bubble,” the power sprinter added.

Richardson and Noah Lyles were named the 2023 USATF Athletes of the Year after winning gold medals at the summer World Athletics Championships in Budapest.

READ MORE: 2023 USATF Awards Honor Sha’Carri Richardson and Noah Lyles | Video

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