HBCUs send 5 athletes to the Olympic Games for Track and Field
Photo courtesy of North Carolina A&T Athletics
The 2021 Tokyo Olympic Trials for Track and Field were held this past weekend where we saw HBCUs and African American athletes having incredible success, sending several athletes to the 2021 Olympic Games.
Representing North Carolina A&T, Randolph Ross Jr., Trevor Stewart, Daniel Stokes, and Akeem Sirleaf will all be going to Tokyo in July. Ross finished 3rd in the Men’s 400m event with a time of 44.74, with Trevor Stewart finishing right behind him with a time of 44.90. Ross earns a trip to the olympics alongside World Champion Michael Norman, and World Champion silver medalist Michael Cherry. Stewart qualified for a spot on the 4x400m relay team. The other two members of the NC A&T 4×400 national championship team will also compete in the olympic games in July. Stokes will represent Mexico while Sirleaf will represent Liberia. Stokes, Stewart, Ross, and Sirleaf are the first Olympic participants from A&T since 1992.
In the Women’s 100m race, 100m and 200m national champion Cambrea Sturgis from NC A&T reached the final for the 100m race.
She hopes to secure a spot in the Olympic games as the trials continue this week. In the Women’s 400m, Quanera Hayes from Livingstone College placed first in the final race, narrowly overcoming 6-time Olympic gold medalist Allyson Felix. Felix, now 35 years old, also qualifies for her fifth Olympic games.
Perhaps the main attraction of the Track and Field event was Sha’Carri Richardson from Louisiana State University. Richardson was a key piece of LSU’s 1st place victory in the Division I Track and Field National Championship. She showed up at the Olympic trials with aesthetics reminiscent of the great Florence Griffith Joyner. Long nails, wavy bright colored hair, and the speed to back up her bold persona. She stamped herself as the fastest woman in America, clocking a time of 10.86.
The Olympic Games will have no shortage of black talent this summer and the United States should be excited. Our athletes, not only for track and field, but for other events like gymnastics, will have most of the U.S fully invested in the Olympic games this summer.
