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Sha’Carri Richardson, the reigning world champion in the women’s 100-meter sprint, issued a public apology this week following her arrest on a fourth-degree domestic violence charge stemming from a July 27 incident at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport involving her boyfriend, fellow sprinter Christian Coleman.
In a video posted to Instagram on Monday night, Richardson acknowledged she had placed herself in a “compromised situation” and is now focusing on self-reflection. On Tuesday, she followed up with a written message addressed directly to Coleman.
“To Christian I love you & I am so sorry,” Richardson wrote. “I love him & to him I can’t apologize enough.” She added that her apology “should be just as loud” as her “actions.”
According to Pat Graham of the Associated Press, Richardson was arrested and booked into South Correctional Entity in Des Moines, Washington, for more than 18 hours before her release. The incident occurred just days before she competed in the 100-meter race at the U.S. championships in Eugene, Oregon.
According to a police report, a Transportation Security Administration supervisor alerted law enforcement to a disturbance between Richardson and Coleman. Video footage reviewed by officers reportedly showed Richardson grabbing Coleman’s backpack and yanking it, then obstructing his movement and pushing him into a wall. The report also indicated Richardson appeared to throw an item, possibly headphones, at Coleman.
Police said Coleman declined to participate further in the investigation and chose not to be considered a victim.
Richardson did not directly address the details of the police report in her public statements but expressed appreciation for Coleman’s presence in her life, writing, “He came into my life & gave me more than a relationship but a greater understanding of unconditional love.”
The 24-year-old sprinter won gold in the 100 meters at the 2023 world championships in Budapest and helped the U.S. women’s 4×100 relay team capture Olympic gold in Paris. Her career was previously interrupted in 2021 when she was suspended from the Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for marijuana following the U.S. trials.
