Sha’Carri Richardson, the 21-year-old recently-turned pro track star, clinched her first Olympic berth in a dominating 100-meter performance on Saturday, June 19. Following her 2019 NCAA title run at LSU, Richardson has quickly become a household name with comparisons to Florence Griffith-Joyner (Flo-Jo) being bandied around with ease.

During the Saturday qualifiers, Richardson ran the second-fastest time in the 100-meter in the world this year. The 10.72-second race she completed at the Miramar Invitation in April is the sixth-fastest time in history, though Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce beat it with a 10.63 earlier in June. After Sha’Carri Richardson clinched her first Olympic berth, she ran into the stands to embrace her family.

Shortly after, she spoke with NBC about the moment and revealed that her biological mother died the previous week.

“My family has kept me grounded,” Richardson said. “This year has been crazy for me. Going from just last week, losing my biological mother, and I’m still here.”

The full statement can be read below:

"I'm still here. Last week, finding out my biological mother passed away and I'm still choosing to pursue my dreams, still coming out here, still here to make the family that I do have on this Earth proud. 

"And the fact that nobody knows what I go through. Everybody has struggles and I understand that, but y'all see me on this track and y'all see the poker face I put on. But nobody but them and my coach know what I go through on a day-to-day basis. 

"And I'll highly grateful to them. Without them, there would be no me. without my grandmother, there would be no Sha'carri Richardson. So my family is my everything. My everything until the day I'm done.”

Sha’Carri Richardson is looking to become the first American to win gold at the 100-meters since Gail Devers did it in 1996.

Read how Black Twitter reacted to the show-stopping win below:

https://twitter.com/MissSimonex/status/1406656977963470853?s=20