Five years may have passed, but time has not dulled the pain of loss for Sha’Carri Richardson. She first revealed the passing of her biological mother on the very day she qualified for her first Olympic team. Every year since, the athlete has continued to honor her mother’s memory with grace, most recently talking about the lasting weight of losing a parent. The 26-year-old shared two posts on her Instagram story to mark the anniversary of the passing. 

“For anyone who has lost their mum… 🕊️. You gained an angel 🤍,” the first Story read.

The second image she shared was titled “Who Are Grieving Daughters”. It meticulously listed the different kinds of grief women have to go through all their lives: “Women who’ve lost children to death”, “Women who feel undervalued/unseen”, “Women who’ve lost a parent to death or abandonment”, “Women who are living with the pain of infertility”, “Women with complicated relationship with mothers”, “Women who have lost the presence of primary nurturers, grandmothers, aunts, mentors” and “Women who are in transition after the end of a significant relationship”. 

Richardson paid tribute to her mother last year as well. The post contained several red balloons with the caption: “4 years since my mother transitioned from this physical world, I am grateful for a mother that made decisions for me to be the young lady I am today 🕊️❤️✨!” 

Notably, during the Olympic trials for the Tokyo Games, Richardson revealed that her birth mother had passed away.

“This year has been crazy for me,” she reportedly said. “Going from just last week, losing my biological mother, and I’m still here. I’m still here. Last week, finding out my biological mother passed away and still choosing to pursue my dreams, still coming out here and still making sure to make the family that I do still have on this earth proud.”

“I want to thank her for bringing me into this world,” she added via NBC. “I respect her and love her. I know she loves me.”

Heartbreakingly, the Olympic athlete only learnt about the incident through a reporter before her race. Despite having an estranged relationship, the news hit her harder than expected.

“To hear that information come from a complete stranger, it was definitely triggering. It was definitely nerve-shocking.” Richardson told NBC. “No offense to him at all, he was just doing his job, but it put me in a state of mind of emotional panic.”

Source: Instagram/Sha’Carri RichardsonIt changed the course of her career at the time, but Richardson took back control of her life. She took responsibility for her actions and has come back stronger since. Her record on the track shows that her 2026 season hasn’t quite started off the way she wanted. Yet, her support system will most definitely play its role. That includes, especially, her aunt and grandmother, who helped shape the woman Sha’Carri Richardson is today.

Sha’Carri Richardson calls aunt Shay a ‘pillar in her life’

When her biological mother left, Sha’Carri Richardson felt the weight of the world. And who could blame her? For her, it was a void that few could fill. Her grandmother and aunt stepped in to do just that. 

Her aunt became her mom, even reassuring the sprinter that she “didn’t have to birth her to be her parent”.

“My mom [Shay] has definitely been a pillar in my life to just be better,” Richardson told NBC DFW in 2024. “Understanding you may not come from ideal circumstances, but at the same time, it’s not where you start, it’s where you are, it’s the direction you want to go. I wouldn’t have even started running track if it wasn’t for my mom.”

Not just her aunt/mom but her grandmother, Harp, played her own role as well. The latter became an influential part of her life, someone who was, in Sha’Carri’s words, “always been in my corner.” 

Harp even flew for the first time to watch her granddaughter on the track in 2021. That, more than anything, meant the world to Richardson.

“Running up in the stands to see my grandmother, in that moment, I was just so grateful and blessed, the fact that she could be there,” Richardson explained, as per People in 2021. “From her catching her first flight, probably ever, two weeks before that — and then again on a flight to come and support me in one of the biggest moments of my life.”