African 100m record holder Marie-Josee Ta Lou has struggled with her fourth place finish at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest in August. She admitted to crying alone in her hotel room when she fell short of the 100m podium in the event. But she is already looking at her next goal – a place on the podium at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
“My goal in athletics is bigger than winning lots of medals”, said Marie-Josee Ta Lou, describing the season as “great for me”.
The Ivorian athlete holds the African 100m record of 10.72 sec from the Monaco Diamond League in 2022. With this result, she is the sixth fastest woman in the world of all time.
“It really hurts and I still can’t say I’m over it. I wanted to win a medal, but I finished fourth. I was in a situation where I was crying alone in my room. The support I received from fans around the world and my colleagues saved me”, said also Marie-Josee Ta Lou.
Gonezie Marie Josee Dominique Ta Lou is an Ivorian sprinter competing in the 100m and 200m. She finished fourth in the 100m and 200m finals at the Rio 2016 Olympics, missing out on a medal in the 100m by seven-thousandths of a second (0.007). She then won silver medals in the 100m and 200m at the 2017 World Championships, the latter in the national record time of 22.08 secs. Her 100m best is 10.72 secs (2022), thus making her the African record holder.
