Former South Carolina sprinter and hurdler Jason Richarson (2005-2008) isn’t running anymore, but he’s not exactly slowing down, and he’s helping other former athletes catch their breath. Richardson, who is one of nine members of the 2024 class for the University of South Carolina Association of Lettermen’s Athletics Hall of Fame, retired from competing in 2018 and is currently the Manager of Athlete Relations for LA28, which is the organizing committee for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympics in Los Angeles.
“My role is dealing with internal and external athlete engagement for the organization,” said Richardson who graduated from South Carolina in 2008 with a degree in sport and entertainment management. “Whenever we need athletes at specific events and whenever we need athletes to provide feedback, that’s what my department handles. There is also an athlete fellowship program that I manage, and it’s a program for retired Olympians and Paralympians. That program gives employability to retired athletes, and that tends to be the difficult part about having a professional career. You’re out of corporate America, and then you retire and need help to figure out what to do next.
“It’s definitely a difficult transition. I was blessed to compete professionally for ten years in addition to the amount of time I put into the sport in college, high school and middle school. When it comes to an end, you look in the mirror, you have to ask yourself, who are you now that you can’t define yourself by a sport as you have in the past. I can say that my life is infinitely better because I was able to participate in sports and got to go to South Carolina. It made me prepared for the hurdles ahead.”
Richardson was a six-time All-American for the Gamecocks and worked through various injuries in his career to cap things off with a sensational senior year in which he won the SEC Outdoor Championship title in the 110 m hurdles and later ran a personal best of 13.21 seconds to win the NCAA Regional title. He went on to win NCAA Outdoors in the event and was named South Carolina’s MVP in both outdoors and indoors. He was also selected as the USTFCCCA Scholar Athlete of the Year.
“That 2008 season really stands out,” Richardson said. “That’s really the intent and focus of college and college sports, which is to do your best athletically and also maintain a good academic standing. That was a good sign that I was balancing the student-athlete…