A Flo of Her Own  – Essence

The year is 1988, and the place is Seoul, South Korea. Florence “Flo-Jo” Griffith Joyner—known as the fastest woman of all time—has become the first American woman to win four medals in a single Olympic Games. Just after setting the women’s world record for the 100 meters, at 10.49 seconds, and the 200 meters at 21.34 seconds, Flo-Jo interlocked her medals (three gold and one silver) between her star-spangled acrylics for her most groundbreaking nail photo op. 

Fast-forward to 2024, and no athlete has been able to touch those beauty looks, nor the spikes beneath the late sprinter’s cleats—except perhaps Sha’Carri Richardson. At her first-ever Olympic race, in Paris, 24-year-old Richardson was less than half a second from breaking Flo-Jo’s 100-meter record; and at the World Championships the year before, just a fourth of a second short. In both races, her track-stabbing manicures kept up with her speed, holding the weight of Flo-Jo’s legacy at her fingertips.  

The nail artist responsible for a number of  the young racer’s most competitive sets, Kinaya Haug, first met the track star at the Nike Athlete House during the 2024 Olympic Trials. Haug—who counts Black athletes like Twanisha “TeeTee” Terry and Raven Saunders as clients—draws a distinction between the nail art sported by Flo-Jo, who is remembered for her rounded ­acrylics, and by Richardson, a fan of the extra-long “boughetto” manicure.  

The sprinter’s XL nails are, at times, impractical to a fault for her sport. Indeed, while wearing one of Haug’s press-on sets, Richardson could not tie her shoe at the starting block for the first heat of the Olympic Trials, which she still impressively won. But at their best, her nails define the intersection of culture, beauty and self-expression for Black women in sports.  

In her latest design, Haug collaborated with several women artists at the Nike House to surprise the Olympian with her Blackest manicure to date. “They were all a part of our gift to Sha’Carri,” Haug says. On a red base, she first started on a pair of black-lined lips—which parted into gold grill–adorned teeth. “We used a 3D molding gel and shaped the lips, then added texture with a tool before curing, painting and blending,” she explains. The tooth gemer then added stars, crosses and jewels. Next, Haug says, “I went across to the waist beader and asked for their handmade beads”—which, applied onto the thumb, resembled a shuck of rainbow corn.   

A box braid claimed its spot on the set’s middle finger—bedazzled with dollar signs, pearls and rings—while a baroque, aureate accent nail took the pinky. “Gold is a color heavily used in Black culture, and [decorated] nails started in Egypt, with gold as an accent on royal nails,” Haug says. As for the most decorated nail in the set: “The junk-drawer nail represents extra-ness, over-the-top, which Black women are considered to be.” The result? The world gets to behold Richardson flying down the track and paving a nail legacy of her own. 

Captions, page 15: Her showstopping nail art on full display, Richardson holds the gold medal she won at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials.   

Haug sports the Nike House nail collaboration she created for Richardson, featuring tooth gems and waist beads.  

Photo production credits: top right: Patrick Smith/Getty Images (1). Waist Beads: Stori Ndiritu and Jasai Madden. Tooth Gems: Ellie Ray-Rouse. Hair stylist: Abibat Durosimi. Nail Technician: Yesi Garcia.