Editor's note: This story includes a description of alleged domestic violence.
Team USA sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson publicly apologized Tuesday to fellow track athlete Christian Coleman, the boyfriend whom she shoved at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport last month before being arrested for domestic violence.
Coleman reportedly refused to press charges after the incident, and the case was quickly cleared.
"I apologize to Christian. He came into my life and gave me more than a relationship but a greater understanding of unconditional love from what I’ve experienced in my past. Due to past trauma and pain," Richardson wrote on Instagram. "I was blind and blocked off to not only receive it but give it. I love him and to him I can’t apologize enough. My apologize (sic) should be just as loud as my actions honestly louder. To Christian I love you and I am so sorry."
Both Richardson and Coleman competed at the USA Track and Field Championships in in Eugene, Oregon, the weekend following the incident.
There, Coleman told reporters that he forgave Richardson and didn't believe she should have been arrested.
"For me personally, I feel like it was a sucky situation all round," Coleman said, per USA Today. "I don't feel like she should have been arrested. I mean people have discussions and emotions and stuff like that. She has things that she needs to work on for herself, of course. So do I, so do you, so does everybody. But I'm the type of guy who's in the business of extending grace, and mercy and love."
TMZ published security footage of the incident, which occurred in the Seattle airport on July 27 and, according to the police report USA Today obtained, included a verbal altercation as Richardson and Coleman exited through airport security.
The footage shows Richardson pulling and pushing Coleman as he walks around the concourse, at one point shoving him into a large column. Richardson is seen following Coleman as he tried to create distance between the two of them, and police said Richardson even threw a pair of headphones at Coleman, per USA Today.
Police arrested Richardson after seeing the security tape. She was held in South Correctional Entity in Des Moines, Washington, for close to 24 hours and was released on July 28, according to jail records.
Richardson, who won gold in the 4x100 meter relay and silver in the 100 during the 2024 Paris Olympics, is the reigning world champion in the 100.
So even though she pulled out of the 100-meter semifinals at the USATF Championships earlier this month, she has automatically qualified for the event at the World Championships in Tokyo this September.
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