Sha’Carri Richardson, Alen Hadzic and our unending forgiveness for white male athletes

The differing treatment of a black female athlete and a white male in the run-up to the Olympics show the double standards that permeate sport

In seemingly less time than Sha'Carri Richardson's world-stopping, 100m triumph at the US trials, the matter of her Olympic-disqualifying suspension for a positive marijuana test has transformed routine sports talk fodder into a full-blown ethical debate for a divided nation.

In her defense marijuana is legal in a host of states across America, including Oregon, where Richardson went full That Girl while stamping her ticket to Tokyo. But on the flip side this is still America, the puritanical-feigning, War on Drugs-waging nation that's been championing for marijuana's inclusion on Wada's banned substance list ever since Cheech & Chong started lampooning weed as the palliative of choice for the chronically lazy.