Marie-Josée Ta Lou has typically been unfortunate on days when she wanted to be excellent.
On the 2016 Olympics, Ta Lou, a sprinter from the West African nation of Ivory Coast, missed the ladies’s 100-meter medal stand by simply seven-thousandths of a second. Days later, she misplaced out on a medal by a single place but once more, ending fourth within the 200 meters.
5 years later, Ta Lou headed into the ladies’s 100-meter closing on the Tokyo Olympics with the third-fastest seed time. Ta Lou mentioned she was in the perfect form of her life, however she handled abdomen points starting within the semifinals. She grunted and grimaced by the 100-meter closing as runners pulled forward of her. She completed fourth once more.
In a sport during which the Olympics and the World Championships are paramount — and in a race during which runners should execute flawlessly for slightly below 11 seconds — a minuscule misstep could be the distinction between profitable a gold medal and lacking the rostrum altogether, turning into a world celebrity or fading to a forgotten speedster.
Ta Lou, 34, has the eighth-fastest time ever run by a girl over 100 meters (10.72 seconds). But, she has no gold medals to indicate for it.
The Tokyo Olympics was a breaking level. Ta Lou known as her fiancé in tears and informed him she could be retiring.
“At that time, I didn’t wish to proceed to run,” she mentioned in a cellphone interview. “It was simply an excessive amount of for me. I used to be finished. It was the worst yr.”
After some convincing from her fiancé and her supervisor, reasonably than retiring, Ta Lou determined {that a} teaching change would possibly assist her attain the medal stand. She employed John Smith, who additionally coaches final yr’s 400-meter world champion, Michael Norman. Smith has helped Ta Lou run the world’s third-fastest time within the 100 meters this yr, 10.75 seconds.
She may have one other shot at profitable her first gold on the World Championships this summer season, which start Aug. 19 in Budapest, Hungary. Ta Lou might also compete within the 200 meters, a call she is going to make after working the 100.
“I’m actually going for the gold, and I consider that I can do it,” Ta Lou mentioned. “I’m praying on it.”
Most particular person sports activities supply a number of alternatives every year to spice up an athlete’s legacy and incomes potential, just like the majors in golf or the Grand Slams in tennis. However in monitor and discipline, an important races are the Olympic Video games, which occur each 4 years, and the World Championships, which occur each two years. (The World Championships are going down in each 2022 and 2023 after pandemic delays pressured the postponement of the 2021 championships.)
Standout performances at these occasions can result in main sponsorships — and disappointing finishes can create monetary insecurity.
To arrange for this yr’s championships, Ta Lou has competed in lots of the 100-meter races on the Diamond League circuit, an annual collection of 14 meets that crowns a champion at its conclusion. Many high athletes skip most of that circuit to make sure they’re as contemporary as doable for the World Championships or the Olympics.
However the meets have confirmed helpful for Ta Lou this season as she has tailored to a brand new working fashion and a coaching routine which have helped cement her as probably the most constant ladies on the earth over 100 meters.
“We’ve had an opportunity to work on some technical issues that enable her to be equally robust as the entire Europeans, the Jamaicans and the People,” mentioned Smith, her coach. “So, as she steps to the road, she’s stepping in with an arsenal equal to theirs.”
Ivory Coast has by no means gained gold within the ladies’s 100 meters on the World Championships. Jamaica and the US have dominated the occasion, profitable 14 out of the 18 golds for the reason that race was first held in 1983. Ta Lou is simply the second feminine sprinter from her nation to earn a medal within the 100 meters.
Nonetheless, even with the third-fastest 100-meter time on the earth this yr, Ta Lou is taken into account an extended shot to win gold. She would both be disrupting a streak of Jamaican dominance within the occasion or spoiling Sha’Carri Richardson’s renaissance. Each Richardson of the U.S. and Shericka Jackson of Jamaica have run quicker instances than Ta Lou this yr, and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the reigning Olympic 100-meter champion, additionally of Jamaica, will likely be thought of medal-stand favorites.
However the World Championships have traditionally been fruitful for Ta Lou. In 2017, she gained silver medals within the 100 and 200-meter races, and in 2019, she completed with a bronze within the 100. (A shoulder harm final yr stored her from making a World Championship closing for the primary time since 2015.)
“Once I’m speaking to her about her, I don’t discuss to her about anyone else as a result of our objectives are lofty sufficient that they’d put her on the highest of the rostrum,” Smith mentioned. “I see everyone’s working quick instances and so forth, however so is she.”
Ta Lou’s end on the World Championships this yr may have little impact on her standing as one of many biggest African sprinters ever. She holds the African report within the 100 meters, and her three mixed World Championship medals within the 100 and 200 are probably the most by any girl representing an African nation.
Ta Lou’s feats have been much more spectacular as a result of she didn’t start competing in monitor and discipline till she was 18. She had all the time wished to be knowledgeable soccer participant, however she turned to trace after being satisfied by her brothers to present the game an opportunity. Now, Ta Lou is a mentor and inspiration for a lot of who run for Ivory Coast.
For Jessika Gbai, 24, a teammate of Ta Lou’s on the Ivory Coast 4×100-meter relay squad, Ta Lou has been an sudden “large sister” for her since she turned skilled final yr. She’s nonetheless considerably startled every time she will get lengthy texts or calls of encouragement from Ta Lou, she mentioned.
“It’s stunning to see somebody of her standing actually exit her solution to attempt to assist individuals like me,” Gbai mentioned. “She’s already at that world-class degree. Her aim is to get a medal. My aim is to get there.”
Gbai continued: “So it doesn’t matter if she wins. I really feel like she’s already finished a lot and nonetheless has a lot extra expertise and years to go. I’m simply impressed by all she’s achieved and continues to perform.”