The African fastest woman, Marie-Josee Ta Lou, set even higher targets for her athletics career.
“My vocation in athletics is bigger than winning lots of medals”, said Marie-Josee Ta Lou, reflecting on what she called a “great season for me”.
There is a sense that Africa’s fastest woman has given it her all but failed to achieve full success during her decade-long career on the track.
The Ivorian athletics star’s achievements go beyond the continent. To put things into perspective, if the fastest female 100m athletes of all time were lined up in a race today, Marie-Josee Ta Lou would automatically have a corridor.
She set an African record of 10.72 sec during the 2022 Monaco Diamond League, making her the sixth fastest woman of all time. However, this achievement alone is not enough to propel her to the highest level of the sport, where victories at the world championships in athletics and the Olympic Games carry more weight.
Marie-Josee Ta Lou capped another track and field season in which she came agonizingly close to the podium at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest in August.
“It really hurts and I still can’t say I’m over it”, said Marie-Josee Ta Lou. “I wanted to get a medal, but I finished fourth. I have been in a situation where I cried alone in my room. The support I received from fans around the world and my fellow contestants saved me”, added she.
