Sanya Richards-Ross Reveals How Competing With Friends Led Her to Unintentional Snub of Jamaica

Jamaican-born American sprint queen has finally shed light on the surprisingly uncalculated reason behind her decision to represent the United States instead of her native Jamaica during her illustrious track and field career.

Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Richards-Ross first laced up her spikes at the age of seven, representing Vaz Preparatory School in local youth meets.

 But by the time she turned 12, her family’s dreams of a brighter future prompted a life-changing move to Florida.

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Though she has since fully embraced American culture, her decision to don the stars and stripes rather than the Jamaican green, gold, and black has long stirred mixed emotions within the global track and field community. 

had previously, but now the Olympic champion has given a fresh perspective simple desire to compete alongside friends set the course for what would become a legendary U.S. career.

“Joy Kamani came up to me at the Junior Olympics—I had won everything—and she said, ‘You need to join the junior team,’” Richards-Ross recalled on the Podcast.

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“I was so excited. I went to my mom and said, ‘Mom, I’m going to be on the world junior team!’ Then Joyce said, ‘Just bring your passport down to register.

“So I told my mom, ‘I need my passport,’ and she replied, ‘You don’t have a passport.’ I was like, ‘What?’ And she said, ‘You don’t have an American passport.’”

What followed wasn’t a calculated choice, Richards-Ross insists, but rather the plea of a teenager desperate to share the track with her closest friends, many of whom were American sprinters she had grown up training with.

“I remember saying, ‘But I want to run with my friends.’ That was really what it was about for me. I had been in the U.S. for four years. All my friends—Batman and everyone else—were American. I wanted to run with the people I knew. I didn’t know any of the Jamaican girls; I hadn’t competed with them.”

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Moved by her daughter’s determination, Richards-Ross’ mother took swift action. “My mom saw how much I wanted to be on Team USA, so she got her citizenship, and then I got naturalized. That’s how I became an American citizen and got to run for the U.S.”

It wasn’t until that the weight of her decision hit her.

“It wasn’t until we got to Milan for the World Juniors—Pan Jamaican style—that I realized, ‘Oh shoot…’ Yeah, Jamaica was not very happy with me at all. But I was just a young buck, you know?”

Looking back, Richards-Ross insists  that the choice was not about wanting to represent the nation with better opportunities at all.

“It wasn’t something we overthought. It wasn’t like I was 19, 20, or 21 making a calculated choice. I was 16. It wasn’t that deep for me at the time. I do believe it was the right decision for me, and I’ve had a lot of great success being part of Team USA. But it wasn’t a business decision or anything like that—it was just my parents wanting to make their baby happy.”

And happy she became—transforming into one of the most decorated female 400m runners of all time.

Richards-Ross retired from the sport in 2016 following an injury during the U.S. Olympic Trials and transitioned to broadcasting as a track and field analyst with NBC. But not before leaving an indelible mark on the sport.

From 2005 to 2009 and again in 2012, she consistently topped the world rankings in the 400m. In 2006, she etched her name into the record books with a blistering 48.70, the American record that still stands. That same year, she was named IAAF Female World Athlete of the Year, a title she claimed again in 2009.

Over the course of her career, she ran under 50 seconds an astonishing 49 times, more than any other woman in history.